Touch-type key input apparatus

ABSTRACT

A touch press key inputting device includes: a plurality of character keys  21˜32  with at least 2 characters displayed on the surface of each key; an input judging means  72  for sensing the character keys touched and the first touched points in the area of the character keys, performing a movement longer than a specified length originally touched, and judging a moving direction in touch press inputting; a character selecting and outputting means  73  for selecting and outputting the characters displayed in the moving direction, corresponding to the moving direction judged by the input judging means, relative to the reference positions of the character keys. Since the characters on the positions are selected and output corresponding to the touch press inputting operations of the characters displayed on the key surfaces of respective character keys  21˜32 , the inputting operations can be directly sensed and easily assured, and the inputting operability is improved.

This application is a continuation of, claims benefit of, andincorporates by reference U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/202,577titled “Touch-Type Key Input Apparatus”, filed on Aug. 11, 2005, whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/476,166 titled“Touch-Type Key Input Apparatus”, having a 371(c) date of Dec. 24, 2003,now U.S. Pat. No. 7,088,340, which is a 371 of PCT/JP02/04214 filed Apr.26, 2002, which claims priority to Japanese application no. 2001-131899,filed Apr. 27, 2001.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is directed to a touch press key device, and inparticular, to a device which can input the characters shown on thepress keys by directly touching the press keys configured in a portabletelephone set or a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personalminicomputer and so on, with a pen or a finger.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, the portable personal minicomputers (movable computers)below the size of B5 or B6 and personal digital assistants (PDA) havegotten a rapid popularization. As a ┌press key Input┘ has become ahandicap of machine miniaturization, a stroke input mode by touching aliquid crystal screen with a pen has been popular.

Generally, the stroke input mode has two types: a ┌hand write input┘ forwriting characters directly on a plate; and a ┌soft keyboard input┘ forinputting characters by touching a small virtual keyboard in a displayscreen with a pen.

Neither of the two types uses a physical (substantial) keyboard, andthis facilitates the miniaturization of the machine for portability.

Yet, there are several problems for the input mode using a pen: the┌hand write input┘ provides some advantages for people, who hatekey-board input, but it is not fit for the occasion that requires rapidinput and long-time input for the character inputting and characterjudging are exceedingly time-consuming.

In addition, the virtual keyboard for the ┌soft keyboard input┘ commonlyis set with one character for each press key respectively, so the presskeys are very fine, crowded, and difficult to touch. For example: thereare 26 letters in English, so it needs 26 press keys correspondingly,and more press keys are required in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and otherlanguages, such as in Japanese, 50 kana need corresponding 50 presskeys.

If so many press keys are displayed in a limited area, the sizes of thepress keys have to be reduced. Therefore, the ┌soft keyboard input┘ alsohas the problems such as inconvenient input operation, inapplicabilityfor the occasion that requires rapid and long-time input and so on.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of this invention is to provide a touch press key inputdevice that can be used to input characters efficiently in the case ofassuring the portability of machines.

The touch press key input device of the invention is characterized inthat it includes: many character keys, the surface of each of which ismarked with at least 2 characters; an input judging means for detectingthe action of the touch press key input device on the character keys andjudging a moving direction of a draw-line touch input action whichmaintains the touch state to move longer than a specific length sincethe first touch point in a character key area; and a character selectingand outputting means for selecting and outputting characters displayedin the moving direction relative to a center position of the characterkey, corresponding to the moving direction judged by the input judgingmeans.

The input judging means of this invention is mainly used to judge themoving direction of the draw-line touch action, and the characterselecting and outputting means is mainly used to select and output thecharacters displayed in the moving directions of the character keys.

Therefore, the characters corresponding to the characters displayed onthe surfaces of the character keys can be selected and input by use ofthe draw-line touch input method, which is distinct and easy to control,thereby improving the input efficiency. Further, the operation is easyand fast, because the characters displayed on the character keys can beaccurately distinguished through watching.

In addition, at least 2 characters, generally 2 to 8 characters, are seton one character key, so even if there are only 12 or 15 character keys,the 26 English alphabets required in English input and the JapaneseRoman letter input, the 10 numbers required in number input and allkinds of symbols such as the brackets are also set on these characterkeys.

For example, if 15 character keys are provided and each of them isappointed of 2 characters, 30 characters can be set at most and can meetthe need of 26 English alphabets.

If there are 12 character keys and each of them is appointed of 4characters, 48 characters can be set at most and can meet the need oftotal 36 characters of 26 English alphabets and 10 numbers.

It is obvious that since more characters can be set on one characterkey, the number of the character keys can be greatly decreased comparingwith the original ┌soft keyboard input ┘ so as to assure theportability. Further, the decrease of the number of charactersfacilitates to enlarge the size of character keys and shorten the movingdistance on keyboard when operated, thereby improving the input speed.

In addition, comparing with the ┌hand-write input┘, the input speed canbe improved and rapid and long time input can be performed.

The size increase of the character key facilitates the user to determinethe moving direction of draw-line touch action, so the user can inputthe character he wants to exactly, and the input speed is improved.Further, the size increase of the character key also equivalentlyenlarges the distinguishing target of the input judging means, i.e. thejudging scope of the moving directions so the moving direction can bedistinguished more exactly.

In addition, the draw-line touch input needs to change the movingdirection, but the character can be input only by needing one time ofdraw-line touch action, so the input efficiency is high and theoperation is convenient.

The so-called ┌specific length┘ does not mean a particularly limiteddistance, but a length exceeding the striking touch point (^(.)) in thecharacter key area. The striking touch point means that there is no moveafter the character key has been touched (the moving distance is veryshort and less than a fixed value). Therefore, the first touch in thecharacter key area can move across the area (exceeding a striking touchpoint, like drawing a line,).

The preceding input judging means can judge these eight movingdirections in the preceding draw-line inputting, including left-downdirection, down direction, right-down direction, left-up direction, updirection, right-up direction, left direction, and right direction (thepositions corresponding to the reference positions of press keys). Whenthe character is displayed in the moving directions (the positionscorresponding to the reference positions of press keys) judged by theinput judging means, the preceding character selecting and outputtingmeans can select and output characters.

Thus, at most 8 characters can be set on one character key, for example,96 characters can be set on 12 character keys. Therefore, the 26 lettersfor English input and Japanese Roman letter input and the 10 numbers of0-9 for inputting all the numbers can be all set on the character keys.

To the languages in which many characters are used such as Japanese, ifthe Roman letter input mode is used, 26 press key positions are neededfor English letters, and the remaining 70 positions can be used to setother symbols and characters.

The configure manner of many characters on one key needs to select themoving directions, but the character input can be realized only byneeding one time of draw-line touch, so the input speed is high and theoperation is convenient.

The preceding character keys had better to be 12 configured in 4 up anddown rows and 3 up and down columns or 3 up and down rows and 4 up anddown columns.

In the case of 12 character keys, the 10 numbers ┌0-9┘ should be setseparately, that is, one number is set on one key. The 26 Englishalphabets should be set in the manner of 2-3 characters on one key, thusthe numbers and English alphabets can be input. As for a mobiletelephone set, 12 keys are enough to input the numbers and Englishalphabets (Roman letter input or English alphabets input), and this isextremely convenient.

If the interpretable moving directions are set to 8, then 96 charactersat most can be set on 12 keys, and if set to 4, then 48 characters. If26 English alphabets are set on 12 character keys, 3 interpretablemoving directions at least are set on one character key.

Then, the reference position of the preceding character key is thecenter position of the surface of the character key, and the precedinginput judging means is to judge the relative moving directions based onthis reference position, and the preceding character selecting andoutputting means is to, in draw-line touch input, select and output thecharacters displayed in the moving directions judged by the precedinginput judging means.

The reference position lies in the center of the surface of each presskey, viz. the center in left to right direction and the center in up todown direction of the surface of the press key, then the left-upcharacter of the key can be input through the draw-line touch action inthe left-up direction, and the right-up character of the key can beinput through the draw-line touch action in the right-up direction. Theuser can understand that intuitively, so the operation convenience willbe improved.

That is to say, among the characters displayed on the surfaces of thecharacter keys, the characters on the positions corresponding to thedraw-line touch input can be selected and output, thus the inputoperation is intuitive, and easy to understand. Further, the characterson the character keys can be accurately distinguished through watching,and the character can be input simply and quickly.

At least two types of the three character types of numbers, Englishalphabets and symbols are set on each character key, and correspondingto the preceding moving directions judged by the preceding input judgingmeans, the preceding character selecting and outputting means can selectand output the characters displayed in the preceding moving directions(with respect to the reference positions of character keys).

By using this input mode, the input of English alphabets, even thenumbers, symbols and so on, can be completed without shifting the inputmode, and the articles including numbers and symbols also can beinputted easily.

At least two types of the four types characters of numbers, Englishalphabets, kana and symbols are set on each character key, and thecharacters displayed in the preceding moving directions (with respect tothe reference positions of character keys) judged by the preceding inputjudging means also can be set.

By using this input mode, the input of English alphabets and kana, eventhe numbers, symbols and so on, can be completed without shifting theinput mode, and the articles including various characters also can beinputted easily.

Commonly, the preceding English alphabets are marked on the left-downportion, the down portion or the right-down portion of the surfaces ofthe preceding character keys; the preceding symbols are marked on theleft-up portion, the up portion or the right-up portion of the surfacesof the preceding character keys; and the preceding numbers are marked onthe right portion or the left portion of the surfaces of the precedingcharacter keys. The preceding input judging means can judge 8 movingdirections of the draw-line touch actions, that is, left-down direction106, down direction 107, right-down direction 108, left-up direction101, up direction 102, right-up direction 103, left direction 104 andright direction 105. According to the moving directions judged by thepreceding input judging means, the preceding character selecting andoutputting means can select and output the characters in 8 movingdirections 101-108 (relative to the center positions of character keys).Therefore, one character key can be set with 8 characters at most, and12 character keys can be set with 96 characters. That is, the 26 Englishalphabets for inputting English and Japanese Roman letters, 10 numbers0-9 for inputting numbers, and all kinds of symbols can be set oncharacter keys, and can be input.

If the input of Japanese is set in accordance with Roman input manner,there are 70 positions left exempt for the 26 positions of Englishalphabets, and these left positions can be used to set other symbols andcharacters, thereby setting more symbols.

The draw-line touch input method needs to select the moving directions,but character input can be realized only by needing one time ofdraw-line touch action, thus the input speed and the operationconvenience can be improved.

In addition, the preceding English characters can be marked on theleft-down portion, the down portion or the right-down portion of thesurfaces of the character keys, the preceding symbols can be marked onthe left-up portion, the up portion or the right-up portion of thesurfaces of the character keys, and the preceding numbers can be markedon the left portion of the surfaces of the character keys; the precedinginput judging means should be set to judge the moving directions ofthese 3 draw-line touch actions in the up direction 102, the downdirection 107 and the left direction 104; if the moving direction of thedraw-line touch action is in the left direction, the preceding characterselecting and outputting means will select and output the precedingnumbers; if the moving direction of the draw-line touch action is in theup direction, the preceding character selecting and outputting means,corresponding to the times of the draw-line touch and in accordance withthe order of the left-up portion, the up portion and the right-upportion, will select and output the characters on the precedingcharacter keys successively; and if the moving direction of thedraw-line touch action is in the down direction, the preceding characterselecting and outputting means, corresponding to the times of thedraw-line touch and in accordance with the order of the left-downportion, the down portion and the right-down portion, will select andoutput the characters on the preceding character keys successively.

In this way, if the interpretable moving directions are set in 3directions of up, down and left, the surface area of the press keys canbe divided into 3 parts, and comparing with the 8 parts of 8 directions,the interpretable range is wider to avoid the deviations occurred whenthe draw-line moving touch is used, further facilitate to select themoving directions correctly, and make the input operation moreconvenient.

As described above, the characters displayed on the character keys canbe selected and output from left to right based on the times ofdraw-line touch. In fact, the selecting and outputting order is notlimited particularly, and the order from right to left can be set, butthe order from left to right conforms more to use habit and is moreconvenient for use.

The interpretable moving directions are not only limited to the threedirections of up, down and left, and four directions of up, down, leftand right can be also set. That is, the surface area of the press key isequally divided into four parts, and four directions can be judged, thusthe input operation convenience is improved because the draw-linetouches in the 4 directions can be distinguished easily.

When the interpretable moving directions are set to be 3 directions,comparing with the preceding 8 directions, the advantage is a widerjudging scope, but more times of draw-line touches are needed.

The preferred way is that: at least 12 character keys are set, in which5 vowel alphabets ┌A┘, ┌I┘, ┌U┘, ┌E┘ and ┌O┘ are set on 5 character keys21-25 of the 12 character keys and the other 21 English alphabets areset on the other 7 character keys 26-32 with 3 alphabets on each key.

Since in this configure mode, the 5 most frequently-used vowel alphabets┌A┘, ┌I┘, ┌U┘, ┌E┘ and ┌O┘ in Japanese and English are set on thedifferent keys, these alphabets can be input easily with needing onetime of press key touch (striking, beating input). Therefore, not onlythe Japanese Roman letters input and the English alphabets are takeninto account, but also the convenience of the input operation and theinput speed are improved.

If the number of character keys is set to be 9, 26 English alphabets canbe assigned to these 9 character keys in a manner of ┌QWE┘, ┌RTY┘,┌UIOP┘, ┌ASD┘, ┌FGH┘, ┌JKL┘, ┌ZXC┘, ┌VBN┘ and ┌M┘.

The arrangement manner of the press key inherits that of QWERTY, andthis makes the people, who are accustomed to the arrangement manner ofQWERTY, learn it easily and use it masterly at once.

If the number of character keys is set to be 9, 26 English alphabets canbe assigned to these 9 character keys in a manner of ┌ABC┘, ┌DEF┘,┌GHI┘, ┌JKL┘┌MNO┘, ┌PQRS┘, ┌TUV┘ and ┌WXYZ┘.

This setting is to arrange the English alphabets used for the input ofRoman letters in accordance with the order of the English alphabets ┌A,B, C, . . . Z┘, thus the character distribution can be grasped easily,and the operation is simple. Especially, the arrangement order ofEnglish characters is completely same as or similar to that of thecurrent mobile telephone set, thus to the people who have been used tothe mobile telephone set, the arrangement of the press keys can beeasily grasped and the convenience of the input operation can beimproved much more.

When the draw-line touch input is carried out, the preceding characterselecting and outputting means can select and output the predeterminedcharacters which are preset at a certain position and marked at thecorresponding position of the surface of the key in future.

In the invention, the input judging means is to judge the movingdirections of the draw-line touch action on each character key. Thecharacter selecting and outputting means is to select and output thecharacters displayed in the moving directions of the character keys(viz. the positions of the character keys), and when the draw-line touchinput lies in a direction without displayed characters, thepredetermined character in this direction can be selected and output.

That is, this setting manner can select and output the predeterminedcharacter in the direction without displayed characters by thaw-linetouch action, i.e. not only the characters marked on the surfaces of thepress keys but also the more characters beyond the marked characters canbe input. By use of this characteristic, the surfaces of the press keysof the keyboard can be made clearer and the generality can be remained.For example, when the characters are printed on the surface of the presskeys, only the characters used commonly by Japanese and English need tobe printed, and the particular characters belonging to either Japaneseor English heed not be printed, which are set as the hiddenpredetermined characters and input in the draw-line touch input manner.This assures that the keyboard can be used as the input keyboard of bothJapanese and English, and that the production cost can be reduced.Because only the frequently used English characters, numbers and so onare actually shown on the press keys, the keyboard is not only clear butalso the surface of each press key has enough space, and even if thepress key is small, the size of characters can be comparatively big andthe press keys can be touched more easily.

The invention can also perform a reciprocating draw-line touch inputaction (i.e. drawing a line to an end point and then moving in adirection toward the starting point, see the detailed contents below).When the reciprocating draw-line touch input is performed, the precedinginput judging can judge the reciprocating draw-line touch actions andits moving directions, and the character selecting and outputting means,corresponding to the moving directions of the reciprocating draw-linetouch actions, also can select and output the predetermined charactersin such directions.

The invention can further perform a right-curved draw-line touch input(i.e. drawing a line to a certain point and then curving rightwards, seethe detailed contents below) and a left-curved draw-line touch input(i.e. drawing a line to a certain point and then curving leftwards, seethe detailed contents below). When the right-curved draw-line touchinput and the left-curved draw-line touch input are performed, thepreceding input judging can also judge the left-curved and right-curveddraw-line touch actions and the moving directions from a touch point toa curved point. The character selecting and outputting means,corresponding to the moving directions of the left-curved andright-curved draw-line touch actions, also can select and output thepredetermined characters in such directions.

The reciprocating draw-line touch input mode, the right-curved draw-linetouch input mode and the left-curved draw-line touch input mode aredifferent from the common draw-line touch input mode, and can be used toinput the predetermined character strings besides common Englishalphabets, kana, numbers, symbols and so on.

For example, in Japanese articles, many common Kanji read in accordancewith sounds are used frequently, and as long as these frequently usedcharacters are set to be input only by one time of touch according tothe pronunciation rules, the input efficiency of Japanese can beimproved greatly.

If 12 press keys are provided and 8 moving directions can be judged, 96characters can be set at most. But if a number and 3 symbols are set oneach press key, the 48 characters (12 press keys×4 directions) can beset on remaining press keys, thereby the kana (Japanese character table)in Japanese and 26 English alphabets cannot be set at the same time.

Therefore, as described in the invention, many inter-convertible inputmodes can be set, and the kana of Japanese and English alphabets can bealternatively input through the conversion of input modes, that is, morecharacters can be input by use of the draw-line touch input mode so asto improve the input efficiency.

The touch press key input device of the invention is characterized inthat it further includes an input region setting means, that is, manypress keys can be collectively set to be an imaginary input region, andthe input judging means, in the case that the imaginary input region isformed by many press keys and set by the input region setting means, canjudge the moving directions of the draw-line touch actions performed inthe input region, for example, according to said moving directionsjudged by the input judging means, said character selecting andoutputting means can select and output the character set on the firstcharacter key in said moving directions (relative to the referencepositions of the input region), and if the specified input operationsare continually performed in the input region following said draw-linetouch, from the character keys selected by the said draw-line touchactions, the characters corresponding to such input actions can beoutput.

If according to this setting mode, besides the common input mode of thedraw-line touch input, a blind-bar-touch input mode can be set on eachpress key. That is, many character keys, such as 6 or 12 character keys,can be set into an input region to increase the area of the inputregion, thereby the blind-bar-touch draw-line touch input can be carriedout. The draw-line touch input can be perform by the blind-bar-touchinput mode without watching the keys, thus the input operation is moreconvenient.

The blind-bar-touch input mode, in case of a single character key, is toselect and output the characters displayed in the moving direction ofthe draw-line touch input action on each key. Yet, due to the case thatmany characters form an input region, the input region can be regard asa press key, and a press key, i.e. a character, existing in the movingdirection of the draw-line touch action is selected and input. Sincemany characters are usually set on each press key, the first character(such as English alphabets) is input by use of the draw-line touch inputmode in the input region, and the second or the following characters(such as English alphabets, kana, numbers, symbols and so on) are inputby use of the following two methods: (1) selecting based on the times ofthe touch (tab-input, i.e. directly striking or beating the press keyswithout performing the movement beyond a specific length) on thecharacter keys selected by the preceding draw-line touch input mode; (2)selecting according to the draw-line touch performed at the predefinedcharacter positions on the key (for example, for numbers the draw-linetouch in the left direction is performed, and for symbols the draw-linetouch in the right direction is performed) after the character keys areselected by use of said draw-line touch method.

The touch press key input device of the invention is characterized inthat it further includes an input region setting means, by which saidmany press keys can be collectively set to be an imaginary input region;that the input judging means, in the case that the imaginary inputregion is formed by many press keys and set by said input region settingmeans, can judge the moving directions of the first and second draw-linetouch actions performed continually in the input region; and that saidcharacter selecting and outputting means, according to the movingdirections of the first draw-line touch action judged by the inputjudging means, can select and output the character configured in judgedmoving directions (relative to the reference positions of the inputregion), and according to the moving directions of the second draw-linetouch action performed on the specified character keys, selects andoutputs the corresponding characters.

That mode sets many press keys collectively into an input region toincrease input area, and the blind-bar-touch draw-line touch input canbe performed and the input operation is simpler.

The blind-bar-touch input mode of the invention is the first draw-linetouch action, and the input region composed of many press keys is regardas a press key, and the character keys existing in the draw-line touchinput direction are selected. Then, according to the second draw-linetouch action, same as the preceding invention, the character keys in thesecond draw-line touch input directions of the selected character keysare selected and output. Thus the input operations can be learned easilybecause they are systematized; and the convenience of the inputoperations are improved.

The positions of the preceding character keys originate in a keyboardpiece, and the keyboard piece is pasted onto the touch input detectingregion, which can detect the touch actions of the touch input means. Thepreceding input judging means can judge the area of the character keyson the preceding keyboard piece, and at the same time, can judge themoving directions of the preceding draw-line touch input in the areacorresponding to the character keys.

So-called touch input means is all the pens or fingers etc. used bypointing and touching, and characters can be inputted by touching theinput detecting region with pens and so on.

So-called touch input detecting region is an area into which thecharacters can be written with pens or the like, and are generallydetected by use of pressure sensing, optic sensing, electrostaticcapacitance sensing and so on can be used to detect the touch actions ofthe pens or the like. Usually, the liquid crystal screen itself or otherspecial sensitive pads different from the liquid crystal screen can beused as the touch input detecting region.

It can be set that the hand-write characters and figures in the touchinput detecting region can be displayed completely as they were.

According to this construction, in the touch input device which has usedthe touch input mode, the characters can be input easily like theoperation of a common keyboard if only the keyboard piece is pasted ontothe touch input detecting region and the input judging means is set to acertain extent.

In addition, the keyboard piece can be removed conveniently, and asmentioned above, when inputting characters and figures by the hand-writemode is preferred to be used, the input methods can be converted intothe hand-write input according requirements, that is, different inputmethods can be adopted at the same time.

After the keyboard is removed, the entire picture corresponds to a touchinput detecting region so as to increase the useful picture. Especially,when web pages, figures and the like of Internet are browsed, theincreased viewable scope facilitates to browse.

While the preceding character key is displayed in the picture, thepreceding input judging means can judge the scope of the character keys,and can judge the moving directions of the draw-line touch input in thescopes corresponding to the character keys.

Under this setting mode, because the character keys are displayed on thepicture, the characters can be input easily like the operation of acommon keyboard if only the input judging means has been set to acertain extent.

Furthermore, if the entire picture needs to be changed into a touchinput detecting region, the keyboard is removed so as to increase theuseful picture, and this particularly facilitates the case where webpages, figures, tables and the like of Internet are browsed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a touch press key input device in afirst embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a keyboard in the preceding embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a view of the internal structure of the touch press key inputdevice in the preceding embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the moving direction of the draw-linetouch input in the preceding embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the touch action of the draw-line touchinput in the preceding embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the draw-line touch input in thepreceding embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of the keyboard piece particular forEnglish in the preceding embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an alternative configuration of the keyboard piece in thepreceding embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the moving direction of the draw-linetouch input in a second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the draw-line touch input in thepreceding second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a touch press key input device in a thirdembodiment.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of a kana mode in the preceding thirdembodiment.

FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of an English mode of the softkeyboard in the preceding third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram of a number mode of the soft keyboardin the preceding third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a configuration diagram of a symbol mode of the soft keyboardin the preceding third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is an alternative configuration of the soft keyboard in thepreceding third embodiment.

FIG. 17 is an instruction configuration diagram of the soft keyboard inthe preceding third embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a plan view of a keyboard piece in a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of the moving direction of the draw-linetouch input in a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of the input action of the English inputin the preceding fourth embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of the input action of the English inputin the preceding fourth embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a perspective view of a touch press key input device in afifth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 23 is a plan view of a keyboard piece in the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of the internal structure of the touch presskey input device in the preceding fifth embodiment.

FIGS. 25(A) and (B) are a schematic diagram of the moving direction inthe draw-line touch input in the preceding fifth embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram of the touch action of the draw-linetouch input in the preceding fifth embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram of the draw-line touch input in thepreceding fifth embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram of the draw-line touch input in thepreceding fifth embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a plan view of a touch press key input device in a sixthembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram of the input operation in the precedingsixth embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a plan view of a touch press key input device in a seventhembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 32 is a schematic diagram of the input operation in the precedingseventh embodiment.

FIG. 33 is a plan view of press keys of a touch press key input devicein an eighth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 34 is a schematic diagram of the input operation in the eighthembodiment.

FIG. 35 is a plan view of a keyboard piece of a touch press key inputdevice in a ninth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 36 is an example of the draw-line touch input in the ninthembodiment.

FIG. 37 is an example of the reciprocating draw-line touch input in theninth embodiment.

FIG. 38 is an example of the left-curved draw-line touch input in theninth embodiment.

FIG. 39 is an example of the right-curved draw-line touch input in theninth embodiment.

FIG. 40 is a plan view of a keyboard piece of a touch press key inputdevice in a tenth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 41 is a plan view of the imaginary input region in the tenthembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 42 is a plan view of the draw-line touch input action for the inputregion in the tenth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 43 is a plan view of a keyboard piece of a touch press key inputdevice in an eleventh embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 44 is a plan view of the draw-line touch input action for the inputregion in the eleventh embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 45 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 46 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 47 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 48 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 49 is a schematic diagram of a press key input column in analternative example of the invention.

FIG. 50 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 51 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 52 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 53 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 54 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 55 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 56 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

FIG. 57 is a plan view of a press key arrangement in an alternativeexample of the invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 shows the first embodiment of the invention, that is, a touchpress key input device 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a touch press key input device 1 of the invention isa personal digital assistant (PDA) which is composed of a body 2including a liquid crystal screen 3 and a pad-like touch input detectingarea 4, and a keyboard piece 5 pasted on the touch input detecting area4.

The touch press key input device 1 is attached with a pen (not shown)for inputting and a pen hole set on the body 2, in which hole the pen isplaced to avoid damaging or losing it.

When the touch press key input device 1 is used, the body 2 is generallygrasped by right hand (or left hand) or placed on a desk surface, andthen is operated with the pen grasped by right hand (or left hand).

Once touched by the pen and the like, the touch input detecting area 4will detect a touching pressure. Therefore, if a character or a figureis written on the touch input detecting area 4, the written character orfigure or the like will be input into the information terminal as it is,for example, a hand drawing map or the like can be input.

As shown in FIG. 2, the keyboard piece 5 contains total 12 characterkeys 21-32 in 4 up and down rows and 3 right and left columns, and 15function keys 51-65 set on both sides of the character keys 21-32.

The press keys 21-32 and 51-65 are all arranged in a standardconfiguration manner described below (commonly used by Japanese andEnglish), and can realize the input of Roman letters of Japanese.

The keyboard piece 5 is pasted on the touch input detecting area 4. Oncea function key 63 being touched, the respective functions of all presskeys 21-32 and 51-65 are activated so as to start performing thecharacter inputting.

In the left portions of the surfaces of character keys 21-32 (in theleft portions with respect to the center positions of press keysurfaces), three numbers of 1-3 are successively arranged on 3 characterkeys 21-23 from left to right in the first line of the keyboard, thatis, number ┌1┘ is arranged on the character key 21, number ┌2┘ thecharacter key 22, and number ┌3┘ on the character key 23. Three numbersof 4-6 are successively arranged on 3 character keys 24-26 from left toright in the second line of the keyboard, that is, number ┌4┘ isarranged on the character key 24, number ┌5┘ on the character key 25,and number ┌6┘ on the character key 26. Three numbers of 7-9 aresuccessively arranged on 3 character keys 27-29 from left to right inthe third line of the keyboard, that is, number ┌7┘ is arranged on thecharacter key 27, number ┌8┘ on the character key 28, and number ┌9┘ onthe character key 29. Number 0, a punctuation mark ┌,┘ and a punctuationmark ┌.┘ are successively arranged on 3 character keys 30-32.

Each up portion of the surfaces of character keys 21-32 is divided intothree portions from left to right, i.e. left portion (located in theleft-up direction of the press key center), middle portion (located inthe up direction of the press key center), and right portion (located inthe right-up direction of the press key center), and the arrangements onthese 3 positions are: ┌( )′┘ are arranged on the character key 21, ┌{}″┘ on the character key 22, ┌┌ ┘^┘ on the character key 23, ┌<>′┘ onthe character key 24, ┌┌ ┘?┘ on the character key 25, ┌/%|┘ on thecharacter key 26, ┌−+=┘ on the character key 28, ┌@*#┘ on the characterkey 28, ┌¥&$┘ on the character key 29, ┌•: ;┘ on the character key 30,┌'-˜┘ on the character key 31, and ┌.!?┘ on the character key 32.

5 vowel alphabets ┌A┘, ┌I┘, ┌U┘, ┌E┘ and ┌O┘ are arranged on left-downportions (located in the left-down directions of the press key centers)of 5 character ┌ ┘ keys 21-25 in 12 character keys 21-32.

Other 21 consonant alphabets are arranged on other character keys 26-32in a manner of each key with 3 alphabets. In particular, the downportions of the surfaces of character keys 26-32 are divided into threeportions from left to right, i.e. left portion (located in the left-downdirection of the press key center), middle portion (located in the downdirection of the press key center), and right portion (located in theright-down direction of the press key center), and the arrangements onthese 3 positions are: ┌YWX′┘ are arranged on the character key 26,┌KGF┘ on the character key 27, ┌SZJ┘ on the character key 28, ┌TDV┘ onthe character key 29, ┌NCQ┘ on the character key 30, ┌HBP┘ on thecharacter key 31, and ┌RML┘ on the character key 32.

When Japanese Roman letters are input, the consonant alphabets ┌K, S, T,N, H, R, Y┘ used for inputting ┌

line,

line,

line,

line,

line,

line,

line, ┘ are arranged on the left-down portions of the character keys26-32. The consonants “K, S, T, N, H, R, Y” for inputting ┌

line,

line,

line,

line,

line,

line,

line ┘ are displayed on the left-down portions of respective characterkeys 26-32, the consonants “G, Z, D, B” for inputting “

line,

line,

line,

line” or consonants “M, W” or “C” for inputting

line,

line” are displayed on the down portions of respective character keys26-32, and the consonant “P” for inputting “

line” or “F, J, V, Q, L, X” are displayed on the right-down portions ofrespective character keys 26-32.

In addition, various functions, being used when the input modes areconverted or characters are input, are set on the function keys 51-65.That is, the key heads of the function keys 51-65 indicate the marks orcharacters showing the functions input by these function keys 51-65 whenpressed individually. In addition, as input modes, there are 4 inputmodes of “kana mode”, “English mode”, “number mode” and “symbol mode”.At this time, in accordance with the mode selected, the characterscorresponding to the modes are displayed on the right portion of theliquid crystal screen 3.

The function keys 51-56, 58-65 are set on the left portion and rightportion of the character keys 26-32, with their shapes and sizes beingthe same as those of the character keys 26-32.

The function of the function key 52 is set, so that its surface shows“marks”, and the characters of “numbers” are displayed on the right-downportion of the liquid crystal screen 3 while the input modes areconverted into “number mode” used by the number inputting.

Further, the function of the function key 53 is set, so that its surfaceshows “marks”, and the characters of “marks” are displayed on theright-down portion of the liquid crystal screen 3 while the input modesare converted into “symbol mode” used by the mark inputting.

The function of the function key 54 is also set, so that its surfaceshows “

” and the “kana mode” are converted into “hiragana mode” or “katakanamode” (Japanese kana has hiragana and katakana) while the input modesare converted into “kana mode” used peculiarly in Japanese. In addition,the function of the function key 54 is also set, so that the characterof a hiragana “

” is displayed on the right-down portion of the liquid crystal screen 3when the input mode is converted into “hiragana mode”, and the characterof a katakana “

” is displayed on the right-down portion of the liquid crystal screen 3when the input mode is converted into “katakana mode”.

The surface of the function key 56 is marked with ┌a/A┘ to show that theinput mode is converted into ┌English mode┘ which includesinter-convertible ┌English small character mode┘ and ┌English capitalcharacter mode┘. When the input mode is converted into ┌English smallcharacter mode┘, ┌a┘ is displayed on the right-down portion of theliquid crystal screen 3, and When the input mode is converted into┌English capital character mode┘, ┌A┘ is displayed on the right-downportion of the liquid crystal screen 3.

The function key 56 is an auxiliary key for word editing or the like,its surface is marked with a rightward arrow, and its function is sameas that of Tab key to move cursor rightwards in a certain interval.

The surface of the function key 55 is marked with an upward arrow, andis used for converting capital characters and small characters inEnglish mode. It is again used for converting capital characters andsmall characters in ┌hiragana mode┘ and ┌katakana mode┘. The function ofthe function key 55 is same as that of a general Shift key.

The surface of the function key 58 is marked with characters ┌BS┘, andits function is same as that of Back Space key to delete a characterbefore the cursor.

The surface of the function key 60 is marked with leftward and rightwardarrows, and its function is same as that of Pause key. When characterkeys of 3 English alphabets and symbols in parallel are touchedconsecutively, this press key is used for stopping the touching actionsdescribed below, and 2 consecutive touches of the key can repeatedlyinput the character input before.

The surface of the function key 62 is marked with a curved arrow mark,and its function is same as that of Enter key to determine the uncertaincharacter and exchange line after its determination.

The surface of the function key 64 is marked with a ┌convert┘ mark, andcan convert inputting characters into Chinese characters, or displaysalternative characters by consecutive touching, and equals to aconverting key.

After the touch press key input device 1 is activated in the embodiment,an initial picture is displayed on the liquid crystal screen 3. A usercan select a desirable function (software) in various function tables inthe initial picture, for example selecting schedule management oraddress contents, to carry out various functions.

In order to convert the picture into a picture (such as initial picture)other than character inputting picture, the following function keys andother function keys are set to be able to immediately convert thepictures.

The surface of the function key 59 is marked with a ┌house┘ pattern, andhas a so-called Home function to convert the current picture into theinitial picture.

The surface of the function key 61 is marked with a table and arrowpattern, and has a so-called Menu function to convert the currentpicture into the function table picture.

The surface of the function key 63 is marked with a character ┌A┘, andmeans that the keyboard piece 5 is used to perform character inputting.

The surface of the function key 65 is marked with a magnifying glasspattern, and has a so-called searching function.

In addition, the function keys 57 is one time long comparable with presskeys 21-32, 51-56 and 58-65 or the like, its surface is marked with┌Space┘, and can be used as a converting key exempt having a spaceinputting function.

The internal structure of the touch press key input device 1 isintroduced in conjunction with FIG. 3. FIG. 3 shows the internalfunction block diagram for constituting the touch press key input device1.

That is, the pen touch press input means 71, the input judging means 72and the character selecting and outputting means 73 are employed by thetouch press key input device 1.

When the keyboard 5 is pasted on the touch input detecting area 4, theinput judging means 72 can judge the areas corresponding to thecharacter keys 21-32 on the touch input detecting area 4, and can judgewhich area is touched once the touching action of the pen touch pressinput means 71 exists.

In particular, if the character keys 21-32 are touched by the pen, theinput judging means 72 can judge the striking action (beating action)which does not move above a specific length and the draw-line touchaction which move above a specific length.

The input judging means 72, as shown in FIG. 4, after the character keys21-32 are touched by the fore end of the pen, in any one of 8 directions(left-up direction 101, up direction 102, right-up direction 103, leftdirection 104 and right direction 105, left-down direction 106, downdirection 107, right-down direction 108), when the draw-line touchaction is carried out by maintaining touch state movement specificlength, can judge the moving directions 101-108.

Exempt for the right direction 105 in these 8 directions, the other 7directions correspond to the surface center positions (character keyreference positions) of the press keys of at most 7 characters displayedon the surfaces of the character keys 21-32, respectively

That is, at most 7 characters are set on the surfaces of the characterkeys 21-32, the existing positions of these characters 21-32 (i.e.relative to the surface center positions of the press keys or thepositions referred as the reference positions, or directions) correspondto 8 moving directions 101-108, respectively. When there is a draw-linetouch input action, the character in the moving direction can be inputresponding to the moving directions 101-108 of the input action.

FIG. 4 shows a judging method of different touch input actions, that is,when the pen tip touches the character keys 21-32 and the draw-linetouch input moving above a specific length in any one direction (left-updirection 101, up direction 102, right-up direction 103, left direction104 and right direction 105, left-down direction 106, down direction107, right-down direction 108, total 8 directions) is carried out, theinput judging means 72 is able to judge the moving directions 101-108 ofthe draw-line touch actions. In this case, the input is judged as adraw-line touch input.

In this draw-line touch input method as shown in FIG. 5, taking acharacter key 27 as an example, the pen touches that character key,begins with an initial touching point (A) to move along a route 109,crosses the area of the character key 27 to reach an end point (B), andthen is raised off the keyboard piece 5. At this time, the input judgingmeans 72 can judge the character key 27 corresponding to the startingpoint (A), and as shown by an arrow 110 in the figure, judges the movingdirection from the starting point (A) to the end point (B) as theright-up direction 103. In this case; the moving direction is judgedonly by the starting point (A) and the end point (B), and is not limitedby the route 109. The directions other than the right-up direction 103are also judged by the same method, thus the characters in variousdirections are input.

According to the starting point. (A) and the end point (B), the movingdirection is judged very flexibly, for example, if the angle of the updirection 102 is seen from the starting point (A) to be 0° (or 360°),the moving direction is judged as the up direction 102, as long as theend point (B) is seen from the starting point (A) to be in the range of22.5°-337.5°. If the moving direction is located in the angle range of112.5°-157.5°, it is judged as the right-down direction 108. That is,what needed is to judge whether the moving direction is in 8 ranges of45°.

At the same time, the character selecting and outputting means 73,according to the result judged by the input judging means 72, selectsthe characters displayed in the moving directions 101-108 of thecharacter keys 21-32, and the characters are displayed on the liquidcrystal screen 3.

Though no character is marked in the right directions 105 of thecharacter keys 21-32, the characters (numbers) in left directions 104are selected once moving into the right directions 105.

FIG. 6 shows more particularly the principle of the draw-line touchinput method, that is, once the character key 27 is touched, the inputjudging means 72 detects the touching to the character key 27 by thepen, and if the pen begins with the touching point to move along thedown direction of the character key 26, the input judging means 72judges the moving direction to be the down direction 107. At the sametime, the character selecting and outputting means 73 selects character┌G┘ responding to the judged direction, and the character ┌G┘ is alsodisplayed on the liquid crystal screen 3. Again, when the pen movesalong the right-up direction 103, the symbol ┌=┘ can be selected andoutput. When the pen moves along the left direction 104, the number ┌7┘can be selected and output, when the pen moves along the right direction105, the number ┌7┘ can also be selected and output.

This draw-line touch input can be used in 3 modes of ┌kana mode┘,┌English mode┘ and ┌number mode┘ among 4 input modes of ┌kana mode┘,┌English mode┘, ┌number mode┘ and ┌symbol mode┘. In the ┌symbol mode┘,only symbols can be input, but the draw-line touch input can also becarried out in the ┌symbol mode┘.

On the other hand, after the input mode is converted into a new inputmode by use of the function keys 51-65, the device is able to select acorresponding touch input method automatically.

That is, after the input mode is converted by use of the function keys51-65, the striking input can be carried out, i.e. the striking inputwithin a specific length can be carried out by beating directly thecharacter keys 21-32 with the pen, and the characters to be input arejudged in terms of the number of striking times.

The operations of the striking input (beating input) and the draw-linetouch input are described below in detail.

Striking Input (Beating Input)

The striking input is to input the characters according to the number ofstriking times (1-3 times) after the input mode converting, and thismethod is easy to learn and can be used to input by everyone.

In particular, the input mode needed is selected from 4 input modes of┌kana mode┘, ┌English mode┘, ┌number mode┘ and ┌symbol mode ┘ by use ofthe function keys 52-54 or 56.

For example, if the function key 54 is touch one time or two times, theinput mode is converted into this Japanese input mode: ┌hiragana input(a hiragana input in which kana and Chinese characters are convertible)┘or ┌katakana mode┘, used by Japanese Roman letter input. In this mode,the characters marked on the down portions of the surfaces of thecharacter keys 21-32 can be input, i.e. the English alphabets used byJapanese Roman letter input.

In Japanese input mode, once the character keys 21-32 are stroked, theinput judging means 72 will judge the number of striking times, and ifthe number of striking times is one, the character selecting andoutputting means 73 will select the characters marked on the left-downportions of the character keys 21-32, and the characters are outputthrough the liquid crystal screen 3. Similarly, if the number ofstriking times is two, the character selecting and outputting means 73will select the characters marked on the down portions of the characterkeys 21-32, and if the number of striking times is three, the characterselecting and outputting means 73 will select the characters marked onthe right-down portions of the character keys 21-32.

That is to say, three characters ┌KGF┘ can be input by use of thecharacter key 27. That is, character ┌K┘ can be selected by striking thecharacter key 27 one time, character ┌G┘ by striking two times, andcharacter ┌F┘ by striking three times.

After characters are input, if kana and Chinese characters areconverted, the function key 57 is stroked.

In addition, in Japanese input mode, a long sound character ┌—┘ is inputby striking the character key 21 two times, and an urgent soundcharacter ┌

┘ is input by striking the character key 24 two times.

An awkward sound character is generally input by use of the character┌Y┘. For example, when ┌

┘ is to be input, ┌TYO┘ are stroked successively, i.e. striking thecharacter keys 29, 26, 25 each one time.

A sound character ┌

┘ input by striking ┌N┘ (the press key 30) one time or two times.

When small character kana is input individually, this can be realized bystriking Shift key 55 one time.

The input mode is converted into English mode (English small charactermode or English capital character mode) by striking the function key 56,and in English mode, the characters (English alphabets) marked on thedown portion of the character keys 21-32 can be input, which is same asin Japanese mode in selecting the characters (symbols) on the left-downportion (by striking one time), on the down portion (by striking twotimes) and on the right-down portion (by striking three times) accordingto the number (1-3) of striking times.

The input mode is converted into number mode by striking the functionkey 52, and in the number mode, the characters (numbers, symbols) markedon the left portion of the character keys 21-32 can be input, andnumbers, comma ┌,┘ and period ┌.┘ can be input by striking the characterkeys 21-32 one time, respectively.

The characters thus selected are all output to the liquid crystal screen3.

(Draw-Line Touch Input)

The above striking input method is to select the characters to be inputaccording to the number of striking and is easy to learn and understand,but the conversion of the input modes is often needed, particularly whenJapanese is input, the mixing inputting of Chinese characters, hiragana,katakana, numbers, symbols etc. is often needed even for a shortarticle, thereby having the operation trouble due to the frequentconversion of the input modes.

The draw-line touch input does not need the frequent conversion of theinput modes, and English alphabets, characters, numbers, symbols etc.can be mixed to input almost in every mode.

The draw-line touch input and the striking input can be commonly used atthe same time.

That is, if two methods of the draw-line touch input and the strikinginput are employed at the same time, the characters input is almost notlimited by the input modes, and English alphabets, characters, numbers,symbols and other characters can be input in one input mode.

For example, the English alphabets used by Japanese Roman letters inputon the down portion of the surfaces of the press keys can be selectedand input by means of the striking input according to the number of thestriking times in the ┌kana mode┘. In kana mode, if the draw-line touchin left direction 104 or in right direction 105 is carried out, thenumbers on the left portions of the surfaces of the press keys can beselected. If the draw-line touch in left-up direction 101, up direction102, or right-up direction 103 is carried out, the symbols atcorresponding positions can be selected. If the draw-line touch inleft-down direction 106, down direction 107, or right-down direction 108is carried out, the English alphabets at corresponding positions can beselected.

Therefore, the input of the consonants ┌M┘, ┌W┘ and the consonants ┌G,Z, D, B, P┘, needs 2-3 times of striking in the striking input mode, butneeds only one time of draw-line touch in down direction 107 orright-down direction 108 in the draw-line touch input mode.

In ┌English mode┘, the striking input method is almost same as that in┌kana mode┘, exempt for inputting English alphabets. In ┌English mode┘,if the draw-line touch input manner is employed, the characters (Englishalphabets, numbers, symbols) required in the moving direction can beselected likewise. Further, in the striking input mode, the input ofEnglish alphabets needs 2-3 times of striking, and in the draw-linetouch input mode, needs only performing the draw-line touch in downdirection 107 or right-down direction 108.

Therefore, in ┌English mode┘, the English alphabets marked on theleft-down portions of the surfaces of the character keys 21-32 are inputgenerally by use of the striking input mode, and the English alphabetsmarked on the down portion or right-down portion are input by use of thedraw-line touch input mode in down direction 107 or right-down direction108, thereby greatly improving the input efficiency.

In ┌number mode┘, the numbers marked on the left portions of thesurfaces of the press keys are input by use of the striking inputmethod. The symbols displayed in left-up direction 101, up direction102, right-up direction 103; the symbols displayed in left-downdirection 106, down direction 107, right-up direction 103; and theEnglish alphabets displayed in left-down direction 106, down direction107, right-down direction 108 are also input by use of the strikinginput method.

Although in ┌symbol mode┘ the draw-line touch input mode can be carriedout, the other types of characters almost can not be input in ┌symbolmode┘, therefore it is best to input symbols by use of the strikinginput manner.

It can be seen that the draw-line touch input mode is irrespective ofthe input mode, that the various English alphabets, numbers, symbols candirectly be input, and that this input manner is very efficientparticularly where the mixing input of the various character such asJapanese input is needed.

Besides the standard configuration (commonly used by English andJapanese) described above, the keyboard piece 5 is provided with aspecial English configuration for English input as shown in FIG. 7. Thespecial English configuration can be realized by resetting the characterkeys and the function keys specially used for Japanese input on the baseof the standard configuration. Specifically, the character keys 23, 24,52-54, 56, 57 of the standard configuration are reset.

This special English configuration has ┌small character input mode┘,┌capital character input mode ┘, ┌number input mode┘, ┌symbol input mode┘ to be selected, and same as the standard configuration (commonly usedby English and Japanese), the marks ┌A┘, ┌a┘, ┌1┘, ┌*┘ and so on aredisplayed on the right portion of the liquid crystal screen 3,corresponding to the input mode selected.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 8, the arrangement order of thecharacters, such as ┌ABC┘, ┌DEF┘ and so on used by common telephonesets, can be employed, and in this case, the configuration of thevarious function keys can use both the standard configuration and thespecial English configuration.

The changed configurations as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 can also beused to input characters and output them to the crystal screen 3 by thetouch input (draw-line touch input and striking input) manner.

(The Effects of the First Embodiment)

The first embodiment described above can obtain the following effects:

1. The input judging means 72 judges the moving directions 101-108 ofthe character keys 21-32 in draw-line touch inputting, and the characterselecting and outputting means 73 selects and outputs the charactersdisplayed in the moving directions 101-108 of the character keys 21-32.The input operation is sensible, easy to grasp, and has a high inputefficiency. Further, the characters marked on the character keys 21-32can be seen at a glance, and the characters can be input convenientlyand quickly.

2. Although there are as few as 12 character keys 21-32, thereon total72 characters of the 26 English alphabets used by Japanese Roman letterinput and English input, the 10 numbers 0-9 used by various seriousnumbers, and 36 symbols such as brackets and so on can be set.Therefore, the characters input by the character keys 21-32 are morethan those input directly by a common keyboard, and the operation issimple, the characters can be input conveniently and quickly.

3. Every character key 21-32 can set 7 characters at most, and thenumber of the press keys is reduced comparing with ┌soft keyboard input┘in which one key corresponds to one character, so that the portabilityis completely assured. Further, the volumes of the character keys 21-32can be increased correspondingly because of the reduction of the numberof the character keys 21-32, and the reduction of the number of thecharacter keys 21-32 also shortens the movement distance in operating onthe keyboard to make the input efficiency higher.

Particularly in the case of that a small portable machine etc. is used,the size of the keyboard 5 fails to be big, but the touch input can beperform easily by a pen or the like because the number of the keys islow and the keys can be made bigger.

4. When the Japanese input is set to be the Roman letter input,comparing with the kana input manner, only 26 English alphabets are setand the positions of the remaining press keys can be used to set othermore characters and symbols.

5. Since the area of each character key 21-32 can be increased, theusers can easily distinguish every moving direction 101-108 whenperforming draw-line touch input, therefore the user can correctlyselect the required characters to be input, and the input efficiency ishigh. Further, the increase of the area of each character key 21-32 alsomakes the distinguished targets of the input judging means 72 bigger,that is, improves the judging accuracy of the moving directions 101-108.

6. The keyboard 5 is pasted on the touch input detecting area 4, and canbe used as a usual keyboard as long as the proper setting to the inputjudging means 72 is carried out, and the character input is easy tolearn. Furthermore, the keyboard 5 can be removed easily; therefore theinput method can be switched into the handwriting input as required whenit is desired that the hand writing input manner or figure should beemployed. It can be seen that the different input methods can be used atthe same time.

7. Since the 8 moving directions 101-108 can be judged and thecharacters needed to be input are preset on the character keys-21-32,the draw-line touch input manner is used to input characters, such asletters, symbols, numbers and so on, through one time touch actionwithout the need to perform input mode conversion, and the inputting hasa rapid speed and a high efficiency.

8. The moving directions are set in 8 directions of left-up direction101, up direction 102, right-up direction 103, left direction 104, rightdirection 105, left-down direction 106, down direction 107 andright-down direction 108, and the intervals among the directions areequal, thus the judging errors of the input judging means 72 can bereduced. In addition, since the moving directions 101-108 actually arethe moving directions of the strokes, the sense is harmonious and theinputting is easy and has a high efficiency.

9. What appeared most frequent generally in articles is numbers besidesEnglish alphabets, the selection and output of these numbers can berealized by the draw-line touch in the left direction 104 or the rightdirection 105. Comparing with the case that the left direction 104 isset, inputting numbers is more convenient, for example, when the priormoving direction approaches the right direction 105, then if numbers areto be input, a slight change of the moving direction is needed, thusnumbers can be conveniently input while the article input is performed.

10. Besides the draw-line touch input, the striking input method canalso be employed. The striking input method is to strike directly thecharacter keys 21-32 to realize the character input, without need forpaying attention to the moving direction as the draw-line touch inputmethod, and the operation is simple. Both the draw-line touch inputmethod and the direct touch input method can be used individually, andthe input manner can be selected very flexibly in conjunction with theapplications and personal preference.

11. Comparing with the general ┌hand writing input┘, it is not necessaryto judge all the stroke loci, thus the input efficiency is high and thequick and long time continual input can be performed.

12. The marks indicated on the character keys 21-32 are set inaccordance with the order of character (English alphabets) on downportion, numbers on left portion, and symbols on up portion, thus theconfiguration and position relations of the characters, numbers andsymbols are simple and clear, and easy to distinguish and to beoperated.

13. The arrangement order of the English alphabets used by Roman letterinputting is almost completely consistent with the order of the Japanese50 kana, thus it is easy to grasp the arrangement conditions of thepress keys, and the operation is convenient. Further, the consonants forvoiced sound input are set to be by the sides of the consonants forvoiceless sound input, and the configuration of the press keys isremembered more easily.

14. The vowels used most frequently are individually set on the 21-25press keys, and at the same time, the consonants for sound input arelocated on the left-down portions of the 26-32 press keys, thus thesecharacters can be input only by one time striking and the inputefficiency is high. The consonants or voiced sounds used less frequentlycan be input only by 2-3 times striking, thus the number of strikingtimes when performing the general character input would not be increasedmore and the input efficiency is high. If the draw-line touch inputmanner is employed, these consonants or voiced sounds can be input onlyby one time striking and the input efficiency is higher.

15. Because the draw-line touch input is irrespective of the inputmodes, English alphabets, numbers, and symbols can be input in almostevery mode, and this input manner can be employed very efficiently,particular for where English alphabets, numbers, symbols and so on areneeded to be mix-input.

Embodiment 2

The second embodiment of the invention is introduced below inconjunction with FIGS. 9-10.

In present embodiment, the constitutional parts as same as or similar tothose of the first embodiment are shown by the same reference numbers.The description of the same or similar parts will be omitted orsimplified.

A touch input device of the second embodiment is substantially same asthe touch press key input device 1 of the first embodiment, and iscomposed of a body ┌kana mode┘ 2 including a liquid crystal screen 3 anda pad-like touch input detecting area 4, and a keyboard piece 5 pastedon the touch input detecting area 4.

The touch input device is as same as the first embodiment in that atouch input means 71, an input judging means 72 and a characterselecting and outputting means 73 are employed.

However, the judging method, which is used by the input judging means 72to judge the moving directions in the time of the draw-line touchinputting, is not the same as that of the first embodiment.

As same as in the first embodiment, there are 4 input modes of ┌kanamode┘, ┌English mode┘, ┌number mode┘ and ┌symbol mode┘. In all selectedparticular input modes, as described above, the striking input can beperformed corresponding to the input modes, and likewise the charactersare selected and input according to the judged number of striking times.The particular operations are completely same as those of the firstembodiment, and their descriptions are not repeated here.

On the other hand, where it is not necessary to select a particularinput mode or a certain input mode has been selected, the draw-linetouch input can be carried out, and 4 direction draw-line touch inputcan be employed, with the particular operations as shown in FIG. 9, thatis, after the character keys 21-32 is touched by a pen tip, thedraw-line touch moved over a special length in any one of directions(there are total 4 directions of up direction 102, left direction 104,right direction 105 and down direction 107) can be carried out. Theinput judging means 72 can judge the moving directions 102, 104, 105,107 of the draw-line touch actions and the number of touch times in themoving directions, so as to complete character input.

That is, when English alphabets are input, the characters marked on theleft-down portion, down portion, right-down portion of the characterkeys 21-32 can be selected and output as long as 1-3 times of draw-linetouches in down direction 107 are performed.

As shown in FIG. 10, taking a character key 27 as an example, if thecharacter key 27 is touched by a pen, the input judging means 72 canjudge that touch action; when the pen performs one time of draw-linetouch along the down direction 107 of the character key 27, the inputjudging means 72 can judge that one time of draw-line touch along thedown direction 107 is performed. The character selecting and outputtingmeans 73, according to the times of the draw-line touch, selects thecharacters corresponding to the moving direction 107 in the order fromleft to right, and the characters are output through the liquid crystalscreen 3. That is, if 1 time of draw-line touch in the down direction107 is performed, ┌K┘ is selected and output.

If 2 times of draw-line touches in the down direction 107 are performed,┌G┘ is selected and output, and If 3 times of draw-line touches in thedown direction 107 are performed, ┌F┘ is selected and output.

If 1 time of draw-line touch in the left direction 104 is performed, ┌7┘is selected and output.

If the moving direction of the draw-line touch action is the updirection 102, as same as the case of the down direction 107, thecharacters on the up portions of the press key surfaces are selected andinput successively beginning with the symbols on the up left portioncorresponding to the times of the draw-line touches.

Generally the draw-line touches in right direction 105 are notperformed, but when the striking input mode is used to input English inEnglish input mode and Japanese input mode, the draw-line touches in theright direction 105 can be used at the same time.

For example, in ┌English mode┘, the English alphabet on the farthestleft portion (the left-down portion) of the surface of the press key isdirectly selected and input by use of the striking input mode. If thedraw-line touch in the down direction 107 is performed, the secondEnglish alphabet (on the down portion) from left to right on the downportion of the surfaces of the press keys is selected and output; if thedraw-line touch in the right direction 105 is performed, the thirdEnglish alphabet (on the right-down portion) from left to right on thedown portion of the surfaces of the press keys is selected and output.In this English mode, the second and third English alphabets from leftto right can be input only by one time of touch, and the inputefficiency is higher. If the draw-line touch in the left direction 104is performed at this time, the characters on the left portion of thesurfaces of the press keys will be selected and output; if the draw-linetouch in the left direction 102 is performed, as described above, thecorresponding symbols are selected and output according to the times ofthe draw-line touches.

In ┌kana mode┘, the English alphabets on the down portion of the presskeys used by the Japanese Roman letter input can be directly selectedand input by use of the striking input mode. If the draw-line touch ofthe left direction 104 is performed, the numbers on the left portion ofthe surfaces of the press keys are selected and output; if the draw-linetouch of the up direction 102 is performed, as described above, thecorresponding symbols will be selected and output according to the timesof the draw-line touch; if the draw-line touch of the down direction 107is performed, English capital alphabets used by the English input areselected and output corresponding to the times of the draw-line touch.

In ┌number mode┘, the numbers on the left portions of the press keys canbe directly input by use of the striking input manner. If the draw-linetouch of the up direction 102 is performed, respective symbols areselected and output corresponding to the times of the draw-line touch;if the draw-line touch of the down direction 107 is performed, Englishalphabets are selected and output corresponding to the times of thedraw-line touch.

In ┌symbol mode┘ the draw-line touch input can be carried out likewise,but the other types of characters almost can not be input in ┌symbolmode┘, therefore it is best to input symbols by use of the strikinginput manner.

Besides the effects (1)-(6), (10)-(15) of the first embodiment, thesecond embodiment described above has following advantages.

16. 4 moving directions, i.e. the up direction 102, the left direction104, the right direction 105 and the down direction 107, are judged, andsince a few directions are judged and the intervals of the directionsare equal, the judging errors of the input judging means 72 can bereduced.

17. The surfaces of the character keys 21-32 are divided into 4 parts,and 4 moving directions of 102, 104, 105 and 107 of the draw-line touchactions can be judged, thus comparing with 8 parts in 8 directions, thejudging scope is bigger to be capable of reducing the deviationsoccurred when the operator selects the moving direction, and accuratelyjudging it, and the input efficiency is high.

18. English alphabets appeared most frequently in articles can be inputboth by the draw-line touch of the down direction 107 and by thedraw-line touch of the right direction 105, and comparing with the casein which only the down direction 107 is set, the input speed is higherand the operation is simpler.

Embodiment 3

The third embodiment of the invention is introduced below in conjunctionwith FIGS. 11-24.

In present embodiment, the constitutional parts as same as or similar tothose of the prior embodiments are shown by the same reference numbers.The description of the same or similar parts will be omitted orsimplified.

As shown in FIG. 11, a touch press key input device 11 of the thirdembodiment of the invention is a personal digital assistant (PDA), on asurface of a body 12 of which is provided with constituents of a liquidcrystal screen 13.

The touch press key input device 11, as the prior embodiments, isattached with a pen for inputting.

The liquid crystal screen 13, as the prior liquid crystal screens 3, canshow characters and so on and also show a soft keyboard 15.

The liquid crystal screen 13 is integrally set to be the touch inputdetecting area 4 described before.

That is, the soft keyboard 15 employed by the third embodiment issomewhat different from the keyboard piece 5 employed by the first andsecond embodiments.

Further, as described below, the present scheme is added a shot cutinput method in order to improve the input efficiency of Japanese. Thispoint is also different from the prior embodiments.

The soft keyboard 15 has same character key and function key in numberand shape as the keyboard piece 5.

Illustrations are made to the same characters set on press key on thepositions corresponding to the positions of the press keys 21-32 and51-65 on the keyboard piece 5.

As shown in FIG. 12, both English alphabets and numbers on the presskeys 21-32 and 51-65 are configured in accordance with kana mode, thusthe Japanese Roman letter input can be carried out.

English alphabets (including ┌

┘ are set on the down portions of the surfaces of the character keys21-32, which is same as the standard configuration (commonly used byJapanese and English) in the prior embodiments, but the numbers andsymbols set on the surfaces of the press keys in the standardconfiguration (commonly used by Japanese and English) are set on theright-up portions of the surfaces of the press keys in the presentembodiment.

┌•┘, ┌

┘, ┌.┘ are set on the right-down portions of the surfaces of thecharacter keys 21-32, respectively

The function 51-65, same as in prior embodiments, has the functionsneeded for the input mode conversion and the character input.

The present embodiment, same as the two embodiments described before,has 4 input modes of ┌kana mode┘, ┌English mode┘, ┌number mode┘ and┌symbol mode┘. The difference is that: since the press keys 21-32 and51-65 are displayed on the soft keyboard 15 on the liquid crystal screen13, when the input mode is converted, as shown in FIG. 13-FIG. 15, thecharacter keys 21-32 and the function 51-65 will alternatively displayEnglish alphabets, numbers and symbols responding to different inputmodes.

The function keys 51-65, on the surfaces of which the word ┌number┘ ismarked, are used for converting the input modes, that is, the input modeis converted into ┌number mode┘ for inputting numbers.

The character ┌a A┘ is marked on the surfaces of the function key 54,that is, the input mode is converted into ┌English mode┘, and theconversion between the ┌English small character mode┘ and ┌Englishcapital character mode┘ can be carried out.

The word ┌symbol┘ is marked on the surfaces of the function key 55, thatis, the input mode is converted into ┌symbol mode┘ for the symbolinputting.

The characters ┌

┘ are marked on the surfaces of the function key 56, that is, the inputmode is converted into ┌kana mode┘, and the conversion between the┌hiragana mode┘ and ┌katakana mode ┘ can be carried out.

Further, the function keys, such as the function key 51, the functionkey 52, the function key 57, the function key 58 and the function key59, used auxiliary for character edition, are set.

The word ┌half shape┘ is marked on the surfaces of the function key 51,and the conversion between the ┌half shape┘ and ┌whole shape┘ of theEnglish alphabets, numbers, symbols and the like can be carried out.

The function key 52 is same as the Tab key described before.

Besides inputting a space, the function key 57 can convert the inputcharacters into Chinese characters and so on.

The function key 58 is same as the standard configuration (commonly usedby Japanese and English) in the first and second embodiments, and thefunction is same as Back Space.

┌→┘

By striking this key, the prior input state can be returned, and at thesame time, all characters before converted can be deleted in the ┌kanamode┘.

The function key 60 is a cursor moving key, and on its surface there isa ┌←┘ mark, that is, the position of the cursor can be moved leftwards,and the cursor can be moved leftwards into a sentence in conversion.

The function key 61 is a cursor moving key, and on its surface there isa ┌→┘ mark, that is, the position of the cursor can be moved rightwards,and the cursor can be moved rightwards into a sentence in conversion.

The surface of the function key 62 is marked with words ┌smallcharacter┘, a small character can be input in the ┌kana mode┘, thefunction of the function key 62 is same as that of the Shift key 62, andby striking it the fore input mode can be returned in the ┌number mode┘and ┌symbol mode┘.

The function key 62 is same as the Pause Repeat key described before.

The function key 64 is marked with arrows on its surface, and is used todetermine the undetermined words and change line after determining them.

The function key 65 is marked with ┌Fn┘ on its surface, and its functionis to display the command configuration described below.

The function keys 51-65 in the embodiment is somewhat different fromthose in the first and second embodiments in the arrangement andfunction setting, but they also can be arranged and set in a same manneras the first and second embodiments.

The internal structure of the touch press key input device 11 is same asthat of the preceding embodiments, and the touch input means 71, theinput judging means 72 and the character selecting and outputting means73 are also employed.

The touch input method is same as in the fore embodiments, and the twomanners of the draw-line touch input and the direct touch input can beemployed.

At most 4 characters are set on the character keys 21-32, and thesecharacters are marked on the right-up portions, the left-down portions,the down portions and the right-down portions of the press keys.

The relative positions of the characters listed on the surfaces of thepress keys respectively correspond to 4 moving directions (right-updirection 103, left-down direction 106, down direction 107 andright-down direction 108) in draw-line touch inputting, and if thedraw-line touches in the moving directions are carried out, thecharacters in the respective directions are input.

The input judging means 72 is substantially same as that of the firstembodiment in the function exempt for the fact that the preceding 4moving directions 103, 106, 107 and 108 can be judged.

The character selecting and outputting means 73 is also same as that ofthe first embodiment, and the characters in the moving directions 103and 106-108 of the surfaces of the character keys 21-32 are firstselected in draw-line touch inputting. The selected characters aredisplayed through the liquid crystal screen 3.

The striking input is completely same as those of the first and secondembodiments, wherein the input judging means 72 first judges the numberof the striking times, and then the character selecting and outputtingmeans 73, according to the judged result, selects the correspondingcharacters, which are displayed through the liquid crystal screen 13.

Therefore, before the touch input (the draw-line touch input and thestriking input) is prepared, the output mode are first selected, then aproper touch input mode is selected according to the characters markedon the character keys 21-32, and the characters input are finallydisplayed on the liquid crystal screen 13.

Besides the above configurations (kana mode configuration, English modeconfiguration, number mode configuration, and symbol modeconfiguration), the soft keyboard 15 can also employ ┌ABC┘, ┌DEF┘ and soon used by a general portable telephone set, as shown in FIG. 16.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 17, the command configuration mode of thecommand function is set on the character keys 21-32.

If the configuration is in accordance with the manner as shown in FIG.16 and FIG. 17, and the changes to the functions of the input judgingmeans 72 and the character selecting and outputting means 73 are onlyrequired, likewise by use of the touch input (the draw-line touch inputand the striking input) methods, the characters are input, and output tothe liquid crystal screen 3.

Besides the effects (1)-(5), (8), (10)-(15) of the first embodiment, thethird embodiment described above has following characteristics.

19. The press keys 21-32 and 51-65 on the soft keyboard 15 are shown onthe liquid crystal screen 13, and the soft keyboard 15 does not appearwhen it is not needed, thereby the whole liquid crystal screen 13 can beused. Particularly when web pages, figures, tables and the like ofInternet are browsed, the increased display scope facilitates thebrowsing.

20. The character (English alphabets, numbers, and symbols)configurations on the character keys can be properly changed incombination with the character types to be input. At most 4 fewercharacters are set on the press keys 21-32 so as to reduce the occupiedspaces of the soft keyboard 15 on the liquid crystal screen 13 andincrease the displaying scope of the figures, tables and the like on theliquid crystal screen 13, and it is more convenient to browse images.

21. Auxiliary functions are set on the press keys 21-32, so as to reducethe troubles in inputting voiced sound and awkward sounds by thestriking mode, and the input speed is higher and the operations are moreconvenient.

Embodiment 4

The fourth embodiment of the invention is introduced below inconjunction with FIGS. 18-21.

The fourth embodiment is same as the first embodiment in the basic inputoperations, but the draw-line touch input is emphasized so as to inputmore easily the characters used most frequently by Japanese and English.

In present embodiment, the constitutional parts as same as or similar tothose of the prior embodiments are shown by the same reference numbers.The description of the same or similar parts will be omitted orsimplified.

A touch press key input device of the fourth embodiment is as same asthat of the first embodiment, and is composed of a body 2 provided witha liquid crystal screen 3 and a touch input detecting region 4, and akeyboard piece 5A pasted on the touch input detecting region 4.

Comparing the keyboard piece 5A with the keyboard piece 5 (reference toFIG. 2) of the first embodiment, the configurations of the press keysare partly different, and the new character strings not marked on thekeyboard piece 5A can be input by the use of the draw-line touch inputmethod.

The particular configurations are shown in FIG. 18, and exempt for thedifferent symbol configurations on the up portions of the surfaces ofthe character keys, the configurations of the press keys of the keyboardpiece 5A is almost completely same as the keyboard piece 5 of the firstembodiment.

The character configuration on the surface of the character key 27 is┌−+_┘ from left to right, and the character configuration on the upportion of the surface of the character key 31 is ┌

┘ from left to right.

The internal structure of the touch press key device of the presentembodiment is same as that of the first embodiment, and the input touchmeans, the input judging means 72 and the character selecting andoutputting means 73 are also employed (reference to FIG. 3). Thecharacter input method is same as that of the first embodiment, and twoinput methods of the draw-line input and the striking input in 8 rundirections of the pen are employed.

The particular operations of the striking input is same as that of thefirst embodiment, and the input mode is converted and then thecorresponding English alphabets, numbers, and symbols are selectedaccording to the touch times (1-3 times) on the character keys 21-32.

In addition, same as the first embodiment, two input methods of thedraw-line input and the striking input are used at the same time. FIG.19 shows the draw-line input method in 8 directions, that is, thecharacters displayed in the moving directions of the character keys21-32 can be input corresponding to the moving directions 101-108 of thepen.

However, in the first embodiment, the draw-line input in right direction108 is set as the number input, and in the present embodiment, only thedraw-line input in left direction 104 can carry out the number input.

The character strings in the brackets shown in FIG. 19 are set on thecharacter keys 21-32, and the character strings, though not marking onthe surfaces of the press keys, can input by the draw-line touch actionin directions shown in FIG. 19. Since a free register table is designedin the character selecting and outputting means 73, the input can berealized as long as the characters corresponding to the press keyoperations are registered in that table in advance. The initial settingof the registration is performed by manufacturers, and can be donefreely by the user with the use of the user registration functions.

For example, as shown in FIG. 20 and FIG. 21, when the draw-line touchinput is carried out under the English input mode, if the words and soon used more frequently are set in advance, the input efficiency wouldbe improved greatly.

That is, an English alphabet is to be input by use of the character keys21-25, and this can be completed by one time of striking action ordraw-line touch action in the left-down direction 106.

On other hand, as shown in a box of ┌draw-line touch┘ of the characterkeys 21-25 in FIG. 20, if the draw-line touch in the down direction 107is performed on the character key 21, ┌an┘ can be input; if thedraw-line touch in the left-down direction 108 is performed, ┌as┘ can beinput; and if the draw-line touch in the right direction 105 isperformed, ┌at┘ can be input, ┌A┘ marked on the surface of the press keymeans the preposition words beginning with A.

Likewise, ┌is┘ can be input by use of the down direction 107 of thecharacter key 22, ┌in┘ can be input by use of its right-down direction108, and ┌it┘ can be input by use of its right direction 105, ┌I┘ markedon the surface of the press key means the words beginning with I.

┌up┘ can be input by use of the down direction 107 of the character key23, ┌us┘ can be input by use of its right-down direction 108, and ┌ul┘can be input by use of its right direction 105, ┌U┘ marked on thesurface of the press key means the character strings related to U.

┌ea┘ can be input by use of the down direction 107 of the character key24, ┌er┘ can be input by use of its right-down direction 108, and ┌es┘can be input by use of its right direction 105; ┌on┘ can be input by useof the down direction 107 of the character key 25, ┌of┘ can be input byuse of its right-down direction 108, and ┌off┘ can be input by use ofits right direction 105. ┌E┘ and ┌O┘ marked on the surface of the presskey means the character strings related to E and O.

The operating method for inputting the English alphabets in thecharacter keys 26-32 by the draw-line touch input mode is shown in FIG.21, and if the moving directions of the draw-line touches are theleft-down direction 106, down direction 107, and right-down direction108, the characters marked on the respective positions on surfaces ofthe press keys are input respectively in principle.

If the moving directions of the draw-line touches on the character keys26-32 are the right direction 105, the new character strings can beinput, in particular, ┌you┘, ┌or┘, ┌so┘, ┌to┘, ┌no┘, ┌he┘ and ┌me┘ areset on the character keys 26-32, that is, the character stringsbeginning with English alphabets marked on the surfaces of the presskeys are set.

As described before, because the character strings appeared frequentlyin inputting English are set, the characters not marked on the surfacesof the press keys can be input, likewise the character strings appearedfrequently in French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Korean,Japanese and other languages can be set in advance, and the principle issame as the shortening input method used by Japanese and English, so asto be capable of reducing the touch times of the press keys. Therefore,it is possible completely that in combination with different languages,a keyboard system commonly used in the world can be made by slightlychanging the settings.

This is not limited to the character strings appeared most frequently inlanguages, and the character strings used most frequently by a user canalso be set, thereby improving the input efficiency greatly.

Besides the effects (1)-(8), (10)-(15), (17), (18), (21) of thepreceding embodiments, the fourth embodiment described above hasfollowing characteristics.

22. The words or character strings and the like used most frequently inJapanese and English can be set in the directions not marked on thesurfaces of the press keys, so as to reduce the number of the touchtimes of the press keys 21-32 in inputting and improve the inputefficiency.

23. If the draw-line touches of the down direction 107, the right-downdirection 108, and right direction 105 are performed on the characterkeys 21-25 set with vowels, the words appearing frequently in Englishcan be input, and the input speed is high. If the draw-line touches ofthe right direction 105 and the right-up direction 103 are performed onthe character keys 26-32 set with consonants, the consonants, once beinginput by several times of touches, can be input only by needing one timeof touch, and the input speed is high.

24. The characters or words, which can be input by touching at least twotimes or more, are set as character strings in advance and thus can beinput by touching press keys one time, so as to reduce the number of thetouch times on the character keys 21-32 and improve the inputefficiency.

25. The characters, which relate to the characters marked on thesurfaces of the press keys but are not completely marked out, can be seton the press keys in a manner of character strings in advance, and thenare input by the draw-line input method. Therefore, the characters, evenif not marked out, can be input through the keyboard, and further, thecharacter strings set on the character keys 21-32 are easy to remember,thereby the input operation is simple.

26. Because the characters not marked out can be input by the inputsystem designed, all needed is that the English alphabets, symbols andnumbers commonly used in Japanese and English are marked on the keyboardpiece 5, and the characters specially belonging to Japanese or Englishand so on need not be marked out, thus the keyboard piece 5 is notlimited to the input of Japanese and English, and can become completelya general keyboard over the world. The reduction of the types of thekeyboard piece 5 corresponds to the low production cost.

Embodiment 5

The fifth embodiment of the invention is introduced below in conjunctionwith FIGS. 22-28.

FIG. 22 shows a touch press key input device 1 of the fifth embodimentof the invention.

As shown in the figure, the touch press key input device of the presentembodiment is mainly used to a portable telephone, and is composed of abody 2 provided with a liquid crystal screen 3 and a touch inputdetecting region 4, and a keyboard piece 5C pasted on the touch inputdetecting region 4. Further, the body 2 is provided with a microphone 6and a speaker 7.

The touch input detecting region 4, same as the liquid crystal screen 3,can display various kinds of information. The touch input detectingregion 4 is to use a part of the liquid crystal screen 3, and thekeyboard piece 5C is pasted on with separated adhesive. Therefore, ifthe keyboard piece 5C is removed, the whole liquid crystal screen 3containing the touch input detecting region 4 can used to displayvarious kinds of information, and thus is used as a personal digitalassistant (PDA).

The touch press key input device 1 (portable telephone set) is likewiseprovided with a pen for the draw-line touch input (not shown in thefigure), and a hole to hold the pen is provided in the body 2, therebythe damage or losing of the pen can be prevented.

When the touch press key input device 1 is used, the body 2 is held byleft hand (or right hand), or the body 2 is placed on the surface of thedesk, and then the operation is performed by holding the pen by righthand (or left hand).

Displayed in the liquid crystal screen 3 are the input characters aswell as characters or images and the like received through Internet andother communication lines.

The touch input detecting region 4, being touched by a pen or the like,can detect the touching pressure of the pen. Once characters or figuresare written onto the touch input detecting region 4, the writtencharacters or figures can be input into the device as they were. Forexample, the drawn maps and so on can be input.

As shown in FIG. 23, the keyboard piece 5C contains total 12 characterkeys 21-32 in 4 up and down rows and 3 left and right columns, and 3function keys 51-53 set on the character keys 21-32. All the press keys21-32 and 51-53 are arranged in the following manner, and the input ofthe English and Japanese Roman letters can be performed.

The keyboard piece 5C is pasted on the touch input detecting region 4,and each of the press keys 21-32 and 51-53 has its own correspondingfunction so as to input characters.

The characters configured on the up portions (above the center position(reference position)) of the surfaces of the character keys 21-26, 28,and 30-32 respectively are: 3 numbers 1-3 are configured on 3 characterkeys 21-23 in the first row from left to right, that is, ┌1┘ isconfigured on the character key 21, ┌2┘ on the character key 22, and ┌3┘on the character key 23. 3 numbers 4-6 are configured on 3 characterkeys 24-26 in the second row from left to right, that is, ┌4┘ isconfigured on the character key 24, ┌5┘ on the character key 25, and ┌6┘on the character key 26.

Number ┌8┘ is configured on character key 28 in the third row of thekeyboard. The character configurations of 3 character keys 30-32 in thefourth row of the keyboard from left to right are: ┌*┘ is configured onthe character key 30, ┌0┘ on the character key 31, and ┌#┘ on thecharacter key 32.

Numbers ┌7┘ and ┌9┘ are configured on the left-up portions (in theleft-up directions of the center positions of the surfaces) of thesurfaces of the character keys 27 and 29 in the third row of thekeyboard, respectively.

6 character keys 22-26 and 28 among 12 character keys 21-32 areconfigured with 3 English alphabets respectively, and character keysboth 27 and 29 are configured with 4 English alphabets.

In particular, one English alphabet is respectively set at threepositions of the left-down portion, down portion, and right portion ofthe reference positions of the press keys, that is, ┌ABC┘ are set on thecharacter key 22, ┌DEF┘ on the character key 23, ┌GHI┘ on the characterkey 24, ┌JKL┘ on the character key 25, ┌MNO┘ on the character key 26,and ┌TUV┘ on the character key 28.

In addition, ┌P┘ is set on the right-up portion of the center positionof the surface of the character key 27, ┌Q┘ on the left-down portion,┌R┘ on the down portion, and ┌S┘ on the right-down portion. ┌W┘ is seton the right-up portion of the center position of the surface of thecharacter key 29, ┌X┘ on the left-down portion, ┌Y┘ on the down portion,and ┌Z┘ on the right-down portion.

3 or 4 English alphabets are set on the character keys 22-29 in theorder of the alphabets.

In addition, set on the down portions of the character keys 30 and 32are ┌SHIFT┘ function for the conversion of capital and small letters,and ┌SPACE┘ function for the input of the space.

Various functions, such as conversing, hanging up, history recording anddisplaying, input removing and so on for telephone, are set on thefunction keys 51-53 respectively.

The internal structure of the touch press key input device 1 isdescribed in conjunction with FIG. 24. FIG. 24 is an internal functionblock of the touch press key input device 1.

The touch press key input device 1 is same as the preceding description,and the touch input means 71 of the pen touch, the input judging means72 and the character selecting and outputting means 73 are employed.

The input judging means 72, when the keyboard piece 5C is pasted on thetouch input detecting region 4, is to judge the corresponding regions onthe touch input detecting region 4 of the character keys 21-32 anddetect whether the regions are subjected to the pen input touch of thetouch input means 71.

In particular, the input judging means 72, after the character keys21-32 are touched by the pen, is to judge the striking actions within aspecial length and the draw-line touch action moved above a speciallength.

As shown in FIGS. 25(A) and (B), when the character keys 21-32 aretouched by the pen and the draw-line touch in any one direction (left-updirection 101, up direction 102, right-up direction 103, left-downdirection 106, down direction 107, right-down direction 108, total 6directions) is performed, the input judging means 72 would judge themoving directions of the draw-line touch actions.

That is, on the character keys 21-26 and 28 marked with numbers and 3English alphabets, the up portions of the center positions (referencepositions) are numbers, and the left-down portions, down portions andright-down portions are English alphabets. Therefore, as shown in FIG.25(A), when the moving direction of the draw-line touch on the characterkeys 21-26 and 28 is up direction 102, the numbers can be input; whenthe moving direction of the draw-line touch is left-down direction 106,the English alphabets on the left-down portion can be input (English 1);when the moving direction of the draw-line touch is down direction 107,the English alphabets on the down portion can be input (English 2); andwhen the moving direction of the draw-line touch is right-down direction108, the English alphabets on the left-down portion can be input(English 3).

On the character keys 27 and 29 marked with numbers and 4 Englishalphabets, for the center positions of the key surfaces of referencepositions of the character keys 21-32, the left-up portions are numbers,and the left-down portions, down portions, right-down portions andright-up portions are English alphabets. As shown in FIG. 25(B), if themoving direction of the draw-line touch on the character keys 27 and 29is left-up direction 101, the numbers can be input; when the movingdirection of the draw-line touch is left-down direction 106, the Englishalphabets on the left portion can be input (English 1); when the movingdirection of the draw-line touch is down direction 107, the Englishalphabets on the down portion can be input (English 2); when the movingdirection of the draw-line touch is right-down direction 108, theEnglish alphabets on the right-down portion can be input (English 3);and when the moving direction of the draw-line touch is right-updirection 103, the English alphabets on the right-up portion can beinput (English 4).

If the moving direction of the draw-line touch on the character keys 21and 30-32 is up direction 102, numbers and symbols ┌1┘, ┌*┘, ┌0┘ and ┌#┘marked on the up portions of the center positions (reference positions)of the character keys can be input respectively.

As shown in FIG. 25, after the character keys 21-32 are touched by a pentip, the draw-line touch action in any one direction (left-up direction101, up direction 102, right-up direction 103, left-down direction 106,down direction 107, right-down direction 108, total 6 directions) isperformed, and the input judging means 72 would judge the movingdirections 101-108 of the draw-line touch actions.

In this draw-line touch input as shown in the figure, taking thecharacter key 22 as an example, the pen touches that character key, andmoves along a route 109 beginning with a touch point (A), crosses theregion of the character key 22 to reach a end point (B), and then israised off the keyboard piece 5C. At this time, the input judging means72 can detect the character key 22 corresponding to the starting point(A), and as shown by a arrow 110 in the figure, judge the movingdirection from the starting point (A) to the end point (B) as theright-down direction 108. In this case, the moving direction can bejudged only by the starting point (A) and the end point (B), and is notlimited by the route 109. The directions other than the right-downdirection 108 can be judged in accordance with the same method, and thusthe characters in various directions are input.

The method that the moving direction is judged through the startingpoint (A) and the end point (B), is not particularly limited, forexample, if the angle of the up direction 102 is seen from the startingpoint (A) to be 0° (or 360°), the moving direction is judged as the updirection 102, as long as the end point (B) is seen from the startingpoint (A) to be in 45° range of 22.5°-337.5°. If the moving direction isin the angle range of 112.5°-157.5°, it is judged as the right-downdirection 108. That is, what needed is to judge whether the movingdirection is in 8 angle ranges of 45°.

On the other hand, the character selecting and outputting means 73, onthe base of the result judged by the input judging means 72, selects thecharacters displayed in the moving directions 101-108 of the draw-linetouch input on the surfaces of the character keys 21-32, and theselected characters are finally displayed on the liquid crystal screen3.

FIG. 27 shows more particularly the principle of the draw-line touchinput, that is, once the character key 22 is touched, the input judgingmeans 72 will first detects the touch to the character key 22 by a pen,and if the pen moves along the up direction 102 of the character key 22,the input judging means 72 judges that the moving direction has moved tothe up direction 102. Then, the character selecting and outputting means73 selects and outputs the number ┌2┘ responding to the judged movingdirection 102, and thus the number ┌2┘ is displayed on the liquidcrystal screen 3.

Again, when the pen moves to the left-down direction 106, the character┌A┘ can be selected and output. When the pen moves to the down direction107, the character ┌B┘ can be selected and output, and when the penmoves to the right-down direction 108, the character ┌8┘ can also beselected and output.

As shown in FIG. 28, once the character key 29 is touched, the inputjudging means 72 will first detects the touch to the character key 29 bya pen, and if the pen moves along the left-up direction 101 of thecharacter key 29, the input judging means 72 judges that the movingdirection has moved to the left-up direction 101. Then, the characterselecting and outputting means 73 selects and outputs the number ┌9┘responding to the judged moving direction 101, and thus the number ┌9┘is displayed on the liquid crystal screen 3.

Again, when the pen moves to the right-up direction 103, the character┌W┘ can be selected and output. When the pen moves to the left-downdirection 106, the character ┌X┘ can be selected and output; when thepen moves to the down direction 107, the character ┌Y┘ can be selectedand output; and when the pen moves to the right-down direction 108, thecharacter ┌Z┘ can be selected and output.

The fifth embodiment described above can obtain the following effects:

(5-1) The input judging means 72 can judge the moving directions 101-108on the character keys 21-32 in draw-line touch inputting. The characterselecting and outputting means 73 selects and outputs the charactersdisplayed in the moving directions 101-108 of the character keys 21-32.Because the characters marked on the character keys 21-32 corresponds tothe moving directions of the draw-line touch input each other, in orderto input a certain character, what needed is to perform the draw-linetouch input of the corresponding directions. The input operation issensible, easy to grasp, and has a high input efficiency. Further, thecharacters marked on the character keys 21-32 can be seen at a glance,and the characters can be input conveniently and quickly.

(5-2) Although there are very few character keys, 12 character keys21-32, thereon total 38 characters of the 26 English alphabets used byJapanese Roman letter input and English input, the 10 numbers 0-9 usedby various serious numbers, ┌#┘ and the second symbol can be set.Therefore, the characters, which can be input, are as more as those by acommon keyboard, and the operation is simple, the characters can beinput conveniently and quickly.

(5-3) Every character key 21-32 can set 5 characters at most, and thenumber of the press keys is reduced greatly comparing with the original┌soft keyboard input┘ in which one key corresponds to one character, sothat the portability is completely assured. Further, the volumes of thecharacter keys 21-32 can be increased correspondingly because of thereduction of the number of the character keys 21-32, and the reductionof the number of the character keys 21-32 also shortens the movementdistance in operating on the keyboard to make the input efficiencyhigher.

Particularly in the case in which a small portable machine etc. is used,the size of the keyboard 5C fails to be big, but the touch input can beperformed easily by means of a pen or the like because the number of thekeys is low and the keys can be made bigger.

(5-4) When the Japanese input is set to be the Roman letter input mode,comparing with the general kana input manner, only 26 English alphabetsare needed to be set and the positions of the remaining press keys canbe set.

(5-5) Since the area of each character key 21-32 can be increased, theusers can easily distinguish every moving direction 101-108 whenperforming draw-line touch input, therefore the user can correctlyselect the characters wanted to be input, and the input efficiency ishigh. Further, the increase of the areas of character keys 21-32 alsomakes the scopes of the moving directions judged by the input judgingmeans 72 bigger, so as to improve the judging accuracy of thedirections.

(5-6) The keyboard 5C is pasted on the touch input detecting area 4, andcan be used as a usual keyboard as long as the proper setting to theinput judging means 72 is carried out, thereby the character input issimple and easy to learn. Further, the keyboard 5C can be removedsimply, therefore the input method can be changed into the hand writinginput according to requirements when it is desired that the charactersor figures are input by use of the hand writing input manner. It can beseen that the different methods can be used at the same time.

(5-7) Since the 6 moving directions 101-103 and 106-108 can be judgedand the characters needed to be input are set on the character keys21-32 in advance, the characters, such as letters, symbols, numbers andso on, can be input in the draw-line touch input manner through one timetouch without the need for performing input mode conversion, and theinputting has a rapid speed and a high efficiency.

(5-8) The moving directions are set in 6 directions of left-up direction101, up direction 102, right-up direction 103, left-down direction 106,down direction 107 and right-down direction 108, and the intervals amongthe directions are equal, thus the judging errors of the input judgingmeans 72 can be reduced. In addition, the sense is harmonious, and theinputting is easy and has a high efficiency.

(5-9) Comparing with the general ┌hand writing input┘, it is notnecessary to judge all the stroke loci, thus the input efficiency isimproved and the quick and long time continual input can be performed.

(5-10) The marks marked on the character keys 21-32 are set inaccordance with the order of character (English alphabets) on downportion, and numbers on up portion, thus the configuration and positionrelations of the characters and numbers are simple and clear, and easyto be distinguished and operated.

(5-11) The arrangement order of the English alphabets used by Romanletter inputting is ┌A, B, C, . . . Z┘, thus it is easy to grasp thearrangement conditions of the press keys, and the operation isconvenient.

Particularly, the arrangement order of the numbers and English alphabetson the character keys 21-32 are same as and similar to that now widelyused by the portable telephone sets, and if the touch press key inputdevice 1 of the invention is used to a portable telephone set, thecharacter configuration is grasped easily by the user and the inputoperation is convenient.

(5-11) Because the setting does not relate to the input mode, the inputefficiency is higher where the English alphabets and numbers can beinput.

Embodiment 6

The sixth embodiment of the invention is introduced below in conjunctionwith FIGS. 29 and 30.

In the present embodiment, the constituent parts as same as or similarto those of the fifth embodiment are shown by same reference numbers.The description of the same parts or similar parts can be omitted ordescribed briefly.

As shown in FIG. 29, a touch press key input device 11 of the sixthembodiment of the invention is a personal digital assistant (PDA), andthe surface of the body 12 is provided with a liquid crystal screen 13.

The touch press key input device 11 is same as that of the precedingembodiments, and is attached with a pen for the draw-line touch input.

The liquid crystal screen 13, same as the preceding liquid crystalscreen 3, is used to display characters and the like, and display a softkeyboard 15B.

The liquid crystal screen 13 is wholly used as the preceding touch inputdetecting region.

That is, comparing to the keyboard piece 5C used by the fifthembodiment, the soft keyboard 15B displayed on the liquid crystal screen13 is employed by the sixth embodiment.

Total 15 character keys 121-135 in 3 left and right rows and 5 columnsare contained on the soft keyboard 15B, and the character keys 121-135are provided with English alphabets in accordance with so called QWERTYmanner used by general keyboard.

That is, the left-up portions of the first row of character keys 121-125are provided with ┌Q┘, ┌W┘, ┌E┘, ┌R┘ and ┌T┘ respectively, and theright-down portions are provided with ┌Y┘, ┌U┘, ┌I┘, ┌O┘ and ┌P┘respectively, thereby the order of those English alphabets actually arethe order of the letters in first row of the general QWERTY keys.

The left-up portions of the second row of character keys 126-130 areprovided with ┌A┘, ┌S┘, ┌D┘, ┌F┘ and ┌G┘ respectively, and theright-down portions are provided with ┌H┘, ┌J┘, ┌K┘, ┌L┘ and ┌;(semicolon) ┘ respectively, thereby this actually is the configurationmanner of the second row of the general QWERTY keyboard.

The left-up portions of the third row of character keys 131-135 areprovided with ┌Z┘, ┌X┘, ┌C┘, ┌V┘ and ┌B┘ respectively, and theright-down portions are provided with ┌N┘, ┌M┘, ┌, (comma) ┘, ┌.(period) ┘ and ┌/(slope dash)┘ respectively, thereby this actually isthe configuration manner of the third row of the general QWERTYkeyboard.

The touch press key input device 11 is same as that of the precedingfifth embodiment, and the touch input means 71, the input judging means72 and the character selecting and outputting means 73 are employed. Thejudging methods of the different input operations is also same as thatof the preceding embodiments, and the draw-line input is employed by theinput method.

That is, 2 characters are set on the character keys 121-135respectively, and are set on the left-up portions and right-downportions of the center positions (the reference positions) of thesurfaces of the press keys.

As shown in FIG. 30, these left-up portions and right-down portionscorresponds to the two moving directions (the left-up direction 101 andthe right-down direction 108) the draw-line input described latter, andthe characters in the moving directions can be input responding to themoving directions.

Exempt for the fact that the moving directions to be judged have only 2directions 101 and 108, the other functions of the input judging means72 are substantially same as those of the first embodiment.

The functions of the character selecting and outputting means 73 aresame as those of the first embodiment, that is, when the draw-line inputis performed, the characters in the directions 101 and 108 of thesurfaces of the character keys 121-135 can be selected, and displayedout through the liquid crystal screen 3.

Besides the effects (5-1), (5-3)-(5-5), (5-7) and (5-9) of the fifthembodiment, the sixth embodiment described above has followingcharacteristics.

(5-13) The directions able to be judged are set only in 2 directions ofthe left-up direction 101 and the right-down direction 108, and thedirections can be distinguished easily and clearly in the inputoperations, thereby the error judgments of the input judging means 72can be reduced.

(5-14) The surfaces of the character keys 21-32 are divided into 2parts, and 2 moving directions of 101 and 108 of the draw-line touchactions can be judged, thus comparing with 6 directions, the judgingscope is increased to reduce the deviations occurred when the operatormoves, and accurately judging the moving directions, and the inputefficiency is high.

(5-15) The character keys 121-135 on the soft keyboard 15B are displayedon the liquid crystal screen 13, and the soft keyboard 15B does notappear when it is not needed, so that the viewable scope of the liquidcrystal screen 13 can be increased. Particularly when web pages,figures, tables and the like of Internet are browsed, the increaseddisplay scope further facilitates the browsing.

(5-16) Only 2 characters are set on the character keys 121-135 so as toreduce the areas of the character keys 121-135, so that the occupiedspaces of the soft keyboard 15B on the liquid crystal screen 13 areincreased, and the liquid crystal screen 13 is made to have bigger spacefor displaying the other figures, tables and the like on, so as tofacilitate the browsing.

(5-17) This arrangement manner of the press keys is that Englishalphabets and symbols are set on the 15 character keys 121-135 in theorder of the QWERTY configuration which has been accustomed to be widelyused, and for the persons who have been accustomed to use the QWERTYconfiguration, the arrangement of the press keys is easy to remember,and they can be used immediately.

Because only 15 character keys 121-135 are set, and the number of thepress keys is much less than that of the general keyboard, thereby theycan be set into a small portable machine.

Embodiment 7

The seventh embodiment of the invention is introduced below inconjunction with FIGS. 31 and 32.

In the present embodiment, the constituent parts as same as or similarto those of the preceding embodiments are shown by same referencenumbers. The description of the same parts or similar parts can beomitted or described briefly.

Comparing the seventh embodiment with the fifth embodiment, the samepoints are in the fact that they can equally be used to a portabletelephone set, and the different points are in the fact that the Englishalphabets on the character keys are configured differently.

In addition, the present embodiment, same as the sixth embodiment,employs a soft keyboard 15C displayed on the liquid crystal screen, andthe keyboard, same as in the fifth embodiment, is pasted on a touchinput detecting region 4.

Total 15 character keys 221-235 in 3 left and right rows and 5 columnsare contained on the touch input press key input device 211 of theseventh embodiment.

In these character keys, the left-up portions of the surfaces of 10press keys 224-232 and 234 (in the left-up direction of the centerpositions (reference positions) of the surfaces of the press keys) areprovided with 10 numbers ┌1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0┘ respectively.

In addition, the down portions of the center positions of the surfacesof the character keys in middle column are provided with 5 letters ┌A,I, U, E and O┘ for Japanese Roman letter input respectively.

The character keys 221, 224, 227 and 233 in left column are configuredin the manner of 3 English alphabets on each key, that is, 3 Englishalphabets are configured in the left-down direction, down direction andright-down direction of the center position of the surface of everycharacter key Speaking particularly, ┌KGF┘ is configured on thecharacter key 221, ┌SZJ┘ on the character key 224, ┌TDV┘ on thecharacter key 227, and ┌HBP┘ on the character key 223.

┌N┘ is configured in the down direction of the center of the surface ofcharacter key 230.

The character keys 223, 229 and 232 in right column are configured inthe manner of 2 English alphabets on each key, that is, 2 Englishalphabets are configured in the left-down direction and down directionof the center position of the surface of every character key. Speakingparticularly, ┌CQ┘ is configured on the character key 223, ┌YX┘ on thecharacter key 229, and ┌RL┘ on the character key 232.

┌M┘ and ┌N┘ are configured on the down portions of the centers of thesurfaces of the character key 226 and 235.

This configuration manner mainly facilitates the input of the JapaneseRoman letters. The input of kana in the rows ┌

┘-┌

┘ by use of the input method of Japanese Roman letters needs thecombination of the vowels with consonants, the vowels are located in themiddle column, and the consonants ┌K, S, T, N, H, M, Y, R and W┘ are seton both sides of the vowels and arranged in the order of from up to left(i.e. from the character key 221 on the left-up portion to the characterkey 233 on the left-down portion and from the character key 226 on theright-up portion to the character key 235 on the right-down portion),thereby facilitating the input of the vowels and consonants incombination.

The consonants ┌G, Z, D and B┘ for inputting voiced sounds ┌

row,

row and

row┘ and consonants ┌K, S, T and H┘ for inputting voiceless sounds inclose relation with the voiced sounds are set on the character keys 221,224, 227 and 233, thereby the input operations of the voiced sounds canbe remembered easily.

In addition, the consonants ┌P┘ for inputting half-voiced sounds in ┌

row┘ and consonants ┌H┘ for inputting voiceless sounds in close relationwith the voiced sounds are set on the character key 223.

The internal structure of the touch press key device 211 is same as thatof the preceding fifth embodiment, and for both the touch input means71, the input judging means 72 and the character selecting andoutputting means 73 are employed (reference to FIG. 24).

As shown in FIG. 32, 4 directions of the draw-line inputs are employedby the character input method.

That is, the numbers can be input by performing the draw-line input inleft-up directions 101 on the character keys 224-232 and 234 set withnumbers.

If the draw-line touches in the left-down direction 106, the downdirection 107 and the right-down direction 108 are performed on thecharacter keys 221-235 are performed, the English alphabets atrespective positions of the character keys 221-235 (that is, the firstEnglish alphabet is in the left-down direction, the second Englishalphabet is in the down direction, and the third English alphabet is inthe right-down direction).

Besides the all effects of the preceding embodiments, the seventhembodiment described above further has following characteristics.

(5-18) The 5 vowels ┌A┘, ┌I┘, ┌U┘, ┌E┘ and ┌O┘ used frequently in bothJapanese and English are set on 5 character keys 222, 225, 228 231 and234 individually, and the input efficiency is high. That is, one letter(vowel) is set on each of 5 character keys 222, 225, 228, 231 and 234,only the vowels are input irrespective of the touched places of thecharacter keys (the down direction, the left-down direction or theright-down direction). Since the input efficiency of the vowels usedfrequently is improved, this corresponds to the improvement of the wholeefficiency.

(5-19) The 5 vowels ┌A┘, ┌I┘, ┌U┘, ┌E┘ and ┌O┘ are set on the 5character keys 222, 225, 228, 231 and 234 in middle column from thefirst row to the fifth row individually, and the positions of the presskeys of the vowels is easy to remember and convenient to be operated.That is, in the middle part of the keyboard, the letters are arranged inthe order of ┌AIUEO (

)┘ from up to down, thereby the arrangement of the press keys is easy todistinguish and the operation is easy.

Next, because the Roman letters are input only by the combination of thevowels and consonants, and the press keys of the consonants are arrangedon the two left and right columns of the press keys of the vowels, themoving distances of the pen in alternatively touching vowels andconsonants is shortened, and the input efficiency is improved.

(5-20) Since the English alphabet ┌K┘ for inputting ┌

┘ row and the English alphabet ┌G┘ for inputting ┌

┘ row are set on same press key 221; the English alphabet ┌S┘ forinputting ┌

┘ row and the English alphabet ┌Z┘ for inputting ┌

┘ row are set on same press key 224; the English alphabet ┌T┘ forinputting ┌

┘ row and the English alphabet ┌D┘ for inputting ┌

┘ row are set on same press key 227; and the English alphabet ┌H┘ forinputting ┌

┘ row and the English alphabet ┌B and P┘ for inputting ┌

┘ and ┌

┘ rows are set on same press key 233, when Roman letters are input, therelated voiceless sounds, voiced sounds and half voiced sound can beinput as long as the touch position is slightly changed. It can be seenthat the positions of the function keys for voiced sounds and halfvoiced sounds are easy to grasp and need not to remember particularly,and that the input speed is quick.

Embodiment 8

The eighth embodiment of the invention is introduced below inconjunction with FIGS. 33 and 34.

In the present embodiment, the constituent parts as same as or similarto those of the preceding embodiments are shown by same referencenumbers. The description of the same parts or similar parts can beomitted or described briefly.

In the preceding embodiments, only English alphabets are marked on thecharacter keys. However, in the present embodiment, the press keyconfiguration is shown in FIG. 33, and only kana (hiragana) is marked onthe character keys 321-332, but the draw-line input can be inputlikewise.

That is, the numbers are marked in up directions of the center positions(reference positions) of the character keys 321-332, the down portionsof the center positions are marked with 3-5 kana, and the kana are seton the character keys 321-332 and 331 in the order of ┌

┘ row, ┌

┘ row, ┌

┘ row, ┌

┘ row, ┌

┘ row, ┌

┘ row, ┌

┘ row, ┌

┘ row, ┌

┘ row, ┌

┘ row.

As shown in FIG. 34, if the draw-line touch in the up direction 302 isperformed on the character keys 321-329 and 331, the numbers can beinput. If the draw-line touches in the other direction 305-309 (theleft-down direction 305, the down direction 307, the second left-down306 between the right-down direction 309 and the down direction 307, andthe second right-down 308 between the right-down direction 309 and thedown direction 307) are performed on the character keys 321-329 and 331,the kana at corresponding positions can be input.

If the draw-line touch in the left-down direction 305 is performed onthe character key 330, the ┌“(voiced sound point)┘ can be input, and ifthe draw-line touch in the right-down direction 309 is performed,┌“(half voiced sound point)┘ can be input.

If the draw-line touch in the left-down direction 305 is performed onthe character key 332, the ┌

(slight pause mark) ┘ can be input, if the draw-line touch in the downdirection 307 is performed, ┌-(long sound)┘ can be input, and if thedraw-line touch in the down direction 309 is performed, ┌-(long sound) ┘can be input.

Besides the all effects of all the, preceding embodiments, the eighthembodiment described above further has following characteristics.

(5-21) Since kana marked on the character keys 321-332 can be input onlyby needing one time of touch, this can be understood easily and theinput speed of Japanese is quick. That is, when the Roman letters areinput in other embodiments, in order to input kana other than vowels,two letters of vowel and consonant are must input, and the inputefficiency is improved greatly.

(5-22) In addition, since the kana arrangement on the press keyscorresponds to the Japanese letter table, the user can easily grasp thepositions of the characters, and the operation is convenient and theinput efficiency is high.

Embodiment 9

The ninth embodiment of the invention is introduced below in conjunctionwith FIGS. 35 and 39. In the present embodiment, the constituent partsas same as or similar to those of the preceding embodiments are shown bysame reference numbers. The description of the same parts or similarparts can be omitted or described briefly.

In the present embodiment, it is not only limited to the draw-line touchinput in one direction (the moving direction of the pen) (reference toFIG. 36), further the reciprocating draw-line touch input (reference toFIG. 37), right curved draw-line touch input (reference to FIG. 38),left curved draw-line touch input (reference to FIG. 39) can beperformed, the several manners can be used in combination, and inaddition, the characters appeared frequently in Japanese input can alsobe set in advance and input by the specified draw-line touch action(special draw-line touch input).

By taking the keyboard piece 5 used by the touch press key input device1 of the first embodiment as an example and combining the keyboard piece5 ┌kana•QWE configuration┘ as shown in FIG. 35, the present embodimentis introduced particularly.

There are 11 character keys 21-31 and 12 function keys 51-62 on thekeyboard piece 5. The function keys 51-62 include the functions of theconversion between input modes, Shift, Back Space and Return, and aresame as those of the preceding embodiments.

50 kana arranged in the order of Japanese letter table and 26 Englishalphabets arranged in QWERTY as well as numbers and symbols are set onthe character keys 21-31.

That is, ┌QWE┘, ┌RTY┘, ┌UIO┘, ┌ASD┘, ┌FGH┘, ┌JKL┘, ┌ZXC┘, ┌VBN┘ and ┌M┘are set on the left-down, down and right-down positions of the characterkeys 21-29 respectively, and in the modes other than kana input modes,the draw-line touches in the left-down, down and right-down directionsare performed on the character keys 21-29 so as to input these Englishalphabets and so on.

Likewise, numbers can be input by the draw-line touches in the left-updirections on the character keys 21-30, and the draw-line touches in theup, right-up and right directions are performed so as to input symbolsmarked on the corresponding positions.

Kana ┌

┘ in column and in every row of Japanese letter table are set on theleft portions of the character keys 21-30, that is, ┌

┘,

As shown in FIG. 36, if the input modes are converted into the kanamodes, kana in ┌

┘ column and in every row (such as ┌

(ka) and so on ┘) can be input by performing the draw-line touch in theleft direction, kana ┌

┘ in column and in every row (such as ┌

(ki) and so on┘) can be input by performing the draw-line touch in theleft-down direction, kana in ┌

┘ column and in every row (such as ┌

(ku) and so on┘) can be input by performing the draw-line touch in thedown direction, kana in ┌

┘ column and in every row (such as ┌

(ke) and so on┘) can be input by performing the draw-line touch in theright-down direction, and kana in ┌

┘ column and in every row (such as ┌

(ko) and so on┘) can be input by performing the draw-line touch in theright direction.

That is, only the kana in

column of Japanese letter table are marked on the character keys 21-29,but the kana from

column to

column are not directly marked, and the kana from

column to

column are set in advance. In addition, ┌

┘, ┌

┘, ┌

┘ and ┌

┘ are set on the left, left-down, down, right-down portionsrespectively.

In the kana mode, if the draw-line touches in the left-up, up, down,right-up portions are performed, the numbers and symbols set atcorresponding positions can be input.

By the character key 31, besides the space can be input, the voicedpoint ┌“┘ or the half voiced point ┌°┘ can also be input if thedraw-line touches in left direction or in right direction are performed.

Besides the effects same as those of the preceding embodiments can beobtained by the present embodiment, since the three kinds of high speedinput methods (the reciprocating draw-line touch input, the right curveddraw-line touch input and the left curved draw-line touch input)referenced above can be set, and the words appeared frequently can beinput simply and quickly (such as sound reading kanji and phrases usedfrequently in Japanese articles), the quick input can be realized by thedraw-line touch input and the input efficiency is improved greatly.

By use of the three kinds of special draw-line touch input methods(reciprocating, right curved and left curved), the proper words appearedfrequently can be set in advance for various languages, for example, thelong sounds, nose sound, urgent sounds, kana and Greek characters, Romannumbers, Latin characters and other characters of the countries over theworld can be input in accordance with the types of the specifiedsentences set by the user in advance.

Besides the general press touch (

) input, if three kinds of special press touch inputs are employed,comparing with 1 kind of press touch input, 4 times of input changes canbe realized. That is, when 96 characters are input from 8 directions by12 character keys, by further setting 3 kinds of press touch inputs,96×4=384 characters can be set and can also set to be capable ofinputting characters of various countries over the world.

Embodiment 10

The tenth embodiment of the invention is illustrated below by referenceto FIGS. 40-42. In the present embodiment, the constituent parts as sameas or similar to those of the preceding embodiments are shown by samereference numbers. Here, the description of them can be omitted ordescribed briefly.

In the preceding embodiments, the press touch input is performed on eachof the character keys 21-32, but in the present embodiment, thestructure is that besides the press touch input operations of suchindividual key, the input regions for collecting many character keys areset and the input is performed by use of the input regions.

In particular, as the keyboard plate 5 of the touch key input device 1composed by the personal digital assistant (PDA) of the firstembodiment, the case of plate 5 “standard arrangement (AIUconfiguration)”, for example as shown in FIG. 40, is illustrated as aexample.

12 character keys 21-32 and 12 function keys 51-62 are set on thekeyboard plate 5. Various functions of input modes or shift, back space,return and so on are performed on the function keys 51-62, and this issame as the preceding embodiments.

In addition, the arrangements of the English alphabets, numbers andsymbols of the character keys 21-32 is same as those of the firstembodiment as shown in FIG. 2, and the illustrations for this isomitted. In the present embodiment, the character keys 21-32 are alsoused.

The English alphabets, numbers and symbols at corresponding positionscan be input by performing the above draw-line touch inputs in 8directions. Even if the manner of individual key is used, but comparingwith the soft keyboard marked with 26 English alphabets and 50 kana, thenumber of the press keys is relatively few and the sizes of the presskeys are relative big, thereby the input is more convenient. However,since the character keys 21-32 are limited by the size of the PDA (thetouch press key input device 1) and can only be limited to a certainsize scope, the blind-bar-touch input without looking at the press keysis very difficult.

For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 41, two input region 501 and 502 areset on the keyboard with 6 press keys as one group in the presentembodiment, so that the input regions is increased so as to make theblind-bar-touch input without looking at the press keys possible.

The particular operation methods of the blind-bar-touch draw-line inputare introduced below.

(10-1. The Conversion Method of the Blind-Bar-Touch Mode)

The draw-line touch input in down directions are performed on anyfunction keys 55-58 on right sides of the character keys 21-32, so as toconvert the input mode into the blind-bar-touch mode, then set theregions of the character keys 21-32 into two input regions 501 and 502,and finally return to the original standard mode (individual key inputmode) by the same draw-line touch actions.

Two input regions 501 and 502 are formed in the manner of 6 press keysin one group of the character keys 21-32, and the user can easily graspthe fact that the character keys 21-32 are imaged as two input regions501 and 502.

(10-2. The Input Method of the First Character on the Character Key)

As shown in FIG. 42, in the kana input (Roman letter input) or theEnglish input modes, the character keys on the draw-line input regions501 and 502 can input the characters set on the character keys in theinput regions.

That is, if the first character ┌A (

)┘ on the character key 21 is to be input, what needed is to draw-linetouch the left-up direction of the input region 501. Likewise, ┌I┘ onthe character key 22 can be input by draw-line touching the up directionof the input region 501, ┌U┘ on the character key 23 can be input bydraw-line touching the right-up direction of the input region 501, ┌E┘on the character key 24 can be input by draw-line touching the left-downdirection of the input region 501, ┌O┘ on the character key 25 can beinput by draw-line touching the down direction of the input region 501,and ┌Y┘ on the character key 26 can be input by draw-line touching theright-down direction of the input region 501.

On the input region 502, by draw-line touching its left-up direction ┌K┘on the character key 27 can be input, by draw-line touching the updirection ┌S ┘ on the character key 28 can be input, by draw-linetouching the right-up direction ┌T┘ on the character key 29 can beinput, by draw-line touching the right-up direction ┌N┘ on the characterkey 30 can be input, by draw-line touching the right-up direction ┌H┘ onthe character key 31 can be input, and by draw-line touching theright-up direction ┌R┘ on the character key 32 can be input.

(10-3. The Input Method of the Second and Third Characters on theCharacter Keys)

In order to input the second and third characters set on the characterkeys 21-32, after the first character is input by draw-line touching theinput region 501, the second character can be input by draw-linetouching the same input regions 501 and 502 again, and the thirdcharacter can be input by further touching.

For example, after ┌K┘ is input by draw-line touching the left-updirection of the input region 502, then ┌G┘ can be input by draw-linetouching the input region again, and ┌F┘ can be input by furthertouching.

(10-4. The Input Method of Numbers and Symbols)

In order to input numbers and symbols set on the character keys 21-32,that is, after the first character is input by draw-line touching theinput regions 501 or 502, the numbers on the touched character keys canbe input by draw-line touching the directions of the same input regions501 and 502, and the symbols on the left-up, up, right-up positions ofthe character keys can be input respectively by draw-line touching rightdirections 1-3 times.

For example, after ┌K┘ is input by draw-line touching the left-updirection of the input region 502, then ┌7┘ can be input by draw-linetouching the left direction, ┌—┘ can be input by draw-line touchingright direction one time, ┌+┘ can be input by draw-line touching rightdirection 2 times, and ┌−┘ can be input by draw-line touching rightdirection 3 times.

(10-5. Other Functions)

After characters, numbers and symbols are input, the ┌shift/Space┘function can be obtained by touching another input regions 501 or 502,the ┌BS┘ function can be obtained by performing the draw-line touch inthe left direction, and the ┌Return┘ function can be obtained byperforming the draw-line touch in the right direction.

The blind-bar-touch mode is same as the general mode, and the functions,which are set on the function keys 51-62 in advance, can be obtained bydirectly striking the function keys 51-62.

(10-6. Number and Symbol Modes)

The input mode can be converted into the number mode and the symbol modeby use of the function keys 51, and if the draw-line touch input of theinput region is performed in the mode, the first character input is notEnglish alphabet but a number or a symbol.

In the present embodiment, the English alphabets, numbers and symbols onthe character keys 21-32 can be input likewise by use of the draw-linetouch input of the individual key, and the effects same as those of thepreceding embodiments can be obtained.

Further, the imaginary input regions 501 or 502 are set, so thatcharacter input can be realized through the input regions 501 or 502.Because the input region is relative big, and the input operations aresimpler, the blind-bar-touch can be performed without looking thecharacter keys 21-32, and the input efficiency is high. In addition,since the number of the press keys is lower, and the characterconfiguration on the press keys is easy to remember, the machine can beused by the persons who have poor eyesight, and can be said to be awelfare facility.

Embodiment 11

The eleventh embodiment of the invention is introduced below inconjunction with FIGS. 43 and 44. In the present embodiment, theconstituent parts as same as or similar to those of the precedingembodiments are shown by same reference numbers. The description of thesame or similar parts can be omitted or described briefly.

The basic idea of the present embodiment is same as that of the tenthembodiment, and the difference is that 2 input regions of the tenthembodiment are combined into an input region 503.

The particular operation is completely same as that of the tenthembodiment. The present embodiment is particularly introduced below inconjunction with the keyboard piece 5 of ┌standard arrangement (AIUconfiguration)┘ shown in FIG. 40.

First, English alphabets, numbers and symbols can be input respectivelyby draw-line touching 8 directions of the character keys 21-32, and thisis completely same as the tenth embodiment. If the mode is convertedinto the blind-bar-touch mode, as shown in FIG. 43, 12 character keys21-32 are set into 1 input region 503.

The particular operation method in the blind-bar-touch mode isintroduced.

(11-1. The Conversion Method of the Blind-Bar-Touch Mode)

Same as the tenth embodiment, the input mode is converted into theblind-bar-touch mode by draw-line touching the down direction of anyfunction key 55-58, and then the whole region of the character keys21-32 is set into an input region 503, so as finally return to theoriginal standard mode (individual key input mode) by the same draw-linetouch actions.

(11-2. The Input Method of the First Character on the Character Keys)

As shown in FIG. 44, in the kana input (Roman letter input) or theEnglish input modes, the characters set on the character keys can beinput by draw-line touching the character keys on the input regions 503.That is, if the first character ┌A (

))┘ on the character key 21 is to be input, what needed is to draw-linetouch the left direction of the input region 503. Likewise, ┌I┘ on thecharacter key 22 can be input by reciprocating draw-line touching the updirection of the input region 503, ┌U┘ on the character key 23 can beinput by draw-line touching the right-up direction of the input region503, in addition, ┌E┘ on the character key 24 can be input by draw-linetouching the left-up direction of the input region 503, ┌O┘ on thecharacter key 25 can be input by draw-line touching the up direction ofthe input region 503, and ┌Y┘ on the character key 26 can be input bydraw-line touching the right-up direction of the input region 503.

┌K┘ on the character key 27 can be input by draw-line touching theleft-down direction of the input region 503, ┌S┘ on the character key 28can be input by draw-line touching the down direction, ┌T┘ on thecharacter key 29 can be input by draw-line touching the right-downdirection, ┌N┘ on the character key 30 can be input by reciprocatingdraw-line touching the left-down direction, ┌H┘ on the character key 31can be input by reciprocating draw-line touching the down direction, and┌R┘ on the character key 32 can be input by reciprocating draw-linetouching the right-down direction.

(11-3. The Input Method of the Second and Third Characters on theCharacter Keys)

In order to input the second and third characters set on the characterkeys 21-32, after the first character is input by draw-line touching theinput region 503, the second character can be input by draw-linetouching the same input regions 503 again, and the third character canbe input by further touching.

For example, after ┌K┘ is input by draw-line touching the left-updirection of the input region 503, then ┌G┘ can be input by draw-linetouching the input region 503 again, and ┌F┘ can be input by furthertouching.

(11-4. The Input Method of Numbers and Symbols)

In order to input numbers and symbols set on the character keys 21-32,that is, after the first character is input by draw-line touching theinput regions 503, the symbols on the left-up, up, right-up positions ofthe character keys can be input respectively by draw-line touching leftdirections of the input regions 503.

For example, after ┌K┘ is input by draw-line touching the left-downdirection of the input region 503, then ┌7┘ can be input by draw-linetouching the left direction, ┌—┘ can be input by draw-line touchingright direction one time, ┌+┘ can be input by draw-line touching rightdirection 2 times, and ┌−┘ can be input by draw-line touching rightdirection 3 times.

(11-5. Other Functions)

In order to carry out the functions set by the function keys 51-62, asshown in FIG. 44, what needed is only to draw-line touch the functionkeys 51-62, and in particular, various functions can be carried out byperforming draw-line touches in up, down, left and right directions.

Same as the tenth embodiment, in the blind-bar-touch mode or in thegeneral mode, the functions, which are set on the function keys 51-62 inadvance, can be obtained by directly striking the function keys 51-62.

(11-6. Number and Symbol Modes)

The input mode can be converted into the number mode and the symbol modeby use of the function keys 51, and if the draw-line touch input of theinput region is performed in that mode, the first character input is notEnglish alphabet but a number or a symbol.

The present embodiment is same as the tenth embodiment, and first theimaginary input region 503 is set, so that character input can berealized through the input region 503, and the input operation issimpler. Especially, the input region 503 is two times bigger than theinput regions 501 or 502 of the tenth embodiment, thus the operationsare easier so as to facilitate the blind-bar-touch draw-line input more.

Alternative Example

The present invention is not limited to the preceding embodiments, andall the changes, improvements and so on to realize the purpose of theinvention belong to the contents of the invention.

For example, in the preceding embodiments, besides the draw-line touchinput method, at the same time the striking input method (beating input,beating operation) is also employed by the character input methods, andthough the striking input method can not be set, the striking inputmethod set can alter the input in accordance with applications andpreferences so as to meet the requirements of more users.

The character configurations on the character keys are not limited tothe preceding embodiments, and can be configured according to theparticular conditions.

For example, the keyboard piece 5, which can be used by PDA (the touchpress key input device 1) to input Japanese in Japan, can also selectthe kana arrangement as shown in FIG. 45, QWE arrangement as shown inFIG. 46, the portable telephone set arrangement (the imaginaryarrangement of Japanese letter table) as shown in FIG. 47 and QWEarrangement (3 columns and 3 rows) as shown in FIG. 48 to use accordingto requirements, besides the standard arrangement (AIU arrangement) asshown in FIG. 40 and the kana•QWE arrangement (the imaginary arrangementof Japanese letter table).

The kana arrangement as shown in FIG. 45 is same as that of the eighthembodiment, that is, English alphabets are not set on the character keys21-32, but kana are set in accordance with Japanese letter table. Itsinput method is same as the draw-line touch input method in the kanainput mode of the kana-QWE arrangement as shown in FIG. 35. That is, asshown in FIG. 49, the kana (┌

┘ etc.) in

column and in every row is input by draw-line touching the leftdirection, the kana ┌

┘ etc.) in

column and in every row is input by draw-line touching the left-downdirection, the kana (┌

┘ etc.) in

column and in every row is input by draw-line touching the downdirection, the kana (┌

┘ etc.) in

column and in every row is input by draw-line touching the right-downdirection, and the kana (┌

┘ etc.) in

column and in every row is input by draw-line touching the rightdirection. Further, if the left-up, up and right-up directions aretouched, the numbers (┌5┘ etc.) and symbols (┌=,

┘ etc.) set in the corresponding directions can be input respectively.

The QWE arrangement as shown in FIG. 46 corresponds to the kana-QWEarrangement which is not exist in the ninth embodiment, and Englishalphabets, numbers and symbols can be input by the draw-line inputmethod in various directions. In the portable telephone set arrangement(the imaginary arrangement of Japanese letter table) as shown in FIG.47, the arrangement of English alphabets is same as that as shown inFIG. 22 (the fifth embodiment) and is same as the arrangement for theportable telephone set, the kana characters are same as the kana•QWEarrangement of the ┌kana input mode┘ as shown in FIG. 35.

The QWE arrangement (3 columns and 3 rows) as shown in FIG. 48 is thatEnglish alphabets shown in FIG. 46 are set on 9 character keys 21-29 andthat the number ┌0┘ set on the character key 30 in FIG. 46 are changedto be set in the right direction of the character keys 29 so as to inputby draw-line touch. In this type, only the arrangement manner of 9character keys 21-29 is compared with the arrangement manner of 12character keys, and though fewer characters can be set, the sizes of thecharacter keys 21-29 are increased, thereby making the input operationeasy and the input efficiency high.

To PDA (the touch press key input device 1) for English input, thekeyboard piece 5, according to requirements, can select and use thestandard arrangement (AIU arrangement) as shown in FIG. 50, QWEarrangement as shown in FIG. 51, the ABC arrangement as shown in FIG.52, the portable telephone set arrangement as shown in FIG. 53, QWEarrangement (3 columns and 3 rows) as shown in FIG. 54, and the ABCarrangement (3 columns and 3 rows) as shown in FIG. 55.

By employing various kinds of the keyboard piece 5 above, the Englishalphabets, numbers and symbols marked on the surfaces of the press keysare input by the draw-line touch input method in directions of thecharacter keys 21-32. Further, the arrangement manner of the above presskeys facilitates to the high speed input as the ninth embodiment.

In tenth and eleventh embodiments, 3 methods of draw-line touch inputfor the input region are used at the same time to input variouscharacters, numbers and symbols, and various characters, numbers andsymbols can be input by 2 times of draw-line touch on the input regions501-503. That is, the first draw-line touch action is to select thecharacter keys 21-32, and the second draw-line touch action is able toselect various English alphabets, kana characters, numbers and symbolson the character keys 21-32.

The blind-bar-touch draw-line touch input employing the input regions501-503 is applicable to not only the arrangement manners of the presskeys of the tenth and eleventh embodiments, but also the arrangementmanner of the press keys as shown in FIG. 45-55.

In addition, the character types marked on the character keys and thearrangement manners are not only limited to the preceding embodimentsand alternative embodiments, for example, in order to obtain the QWERTarrangement of the sixth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 56, the charactersin every row of the common keyboard are set on the character keys121-135 from left to right in a manner of each key with two characters.It is also possible that 2 characters on both ends of each row or 2characters of the second key on both ends are reset onto a character.

In the preceding embodiments, there are English alphabets and symbolsmarked on the down portions and the up portions of the surfaces of thecharacter keys 21-32, further there are numbers marked on the leftportions of the surfaces of the character keys 21-30, and furthermorethere are numbers marked on the down portions of the surfaces of thepress keys, English alphabets and kana characters marked on the upportions of the surfaces of the press keys, symbols marked on the rightportions of the surfaces of the press keys and so on, thereby it can beseen that the marked positions of the characters (numbers, Englishalphabets, kana characters, symbols and so on) on the character keys21-32 can be properly changed according to requirements.

However, English alphabets or kana characters used most frequently arepreferred to be set on the down portions of the press keys, and becausethe writing actions of the characters are consistent with the draw-linetouch input actions in directions, this can be accustomed to moreeasily.

In the preceding embodiments, the moving directions of the draw-linetouches are set into 8 directions: the left-down direction, the downdirection, the right-down direction, the left-up direction, the updirection, the right-up direction, the left direction and the rightdirection, and actually these 8 directions can also be divided in othermanners.

In the preceding embodiments, 8 directions and 4 directions are listedof the directions of the draw-line touch actions which can be judged,and actually the draw-line touch actions in 2 directions, 3 directions,5 directions, 6 directions, 7 directions and even 9 directions can bejudged by proper setting.

The moving directions of the draw-line touch can be set in conjunctionwith the characters on the character keys, and particularly when thedraw-line touch input is performed, if 8 directions are set and theangle range of the each direction is 45 degree, they can be easilydistinguished by the user. On the base of the 8 directions, if thenumber of the characters is lower than 8, this means that the draw-linetouch input is performed in the directions not marked with characters,that is, the characters in adjacent directions can be input. That is,the moving directions of the draw-line touch input can be set inconjunction with the number of the set characters.

For example, if 5 characters are set on each of the character keys21-32, what needed is that the moving directions of the draw-line touchactions can be set to be 5.

In addition, same as the second embodiment, the character types (forexample, English alphabets, numbers and symbols) set on the characterkeys 21-32 can be distinguished by means of the moving directions of thedraw-line touch actions, and if many characters in same type can be seton one press key, the characters to be input can be selected accordingto the number of the draw-line touch in their directions.

In summary, the draw-line touch input method of the invention is toselect and output the characters displayed in the moving directions ofthe character keys, and both marked characters themselves and thecharacter strings not marked completely can be input.

In the preceding embodiments, the liquid crystal screens 3 and 13 candetect the contents of the touch input, and the keyboard piece 5 pastedon the up portions or right portions and other positions of the liquidcrystal screens 3 and 13 can display the soft keyboard 15 and the inputcharacters. Therefore, the placement positions of the keyboard piece 5or the soft keyboard 15 can be changed according to applications so asto make the operations more convenient. In addition, according to thepresent invention, whether the character keys are displayed on theliquid crystal screens 3 and 13, whether the keyboard is pasted andwhether the soft keyboard is displayed, can all be set according torequirements.

In the third and fourth embodiments, an auxiliary arrangement which canperform a shorten input, is set, and taking the fourth embodiment as anexample, 4 types of character strings: the vowel urgent sound characterstrings, the vowel voiced character strings, the compound vowelcharacter strings and the nose sound character strings, can be input bydraw-line touching 4 directions of the vowel keys 21-25, that is, thesymbols marked on the surfaces of the press keys can be input bydraw-line touching the right-up direction, and the other 3 types ofcharacter strings can be input by draw-line touching the other 3directions. The above 4 types of character strings can be set accordingto requirements, and all the types need not be set.

In the fourth embodiment, the character strings set in advance can beinput by performing the draw-line touch in the directions not displayingcharacters, and the instance is not limited to what shown in FIG. 20 andFIG. 21 and other types of setting can be performed according torequirements.

These character strings, same as other English alphabets, are marked onsurfaces of the press keys, and the character strings at thecorresponding positions can be input by the draw-line touch in theirexisting directions (positions). Of course, same as the fourthembodiment, only characters, symbols and numbers are marked on thesurfaces of the press keys while the character strings are concealed, sothat the number of characters marked on the surfaces of the press keyscan be reduced, so as to make the size of the characters and tofacilitate to the judgment.

The characters and functions set on the character keys 21-25 andfunction keys 51-65 can be set in a manner different from those of thepreceding embodiments, as long as the touch press keys input devicefacilitates the input.

Exempt for the sixth embodiment, in all other embodiments the numbersare marked on the character keys, and of course, either same as thesixth embodiment, not numbers, but only English alphabets and kanacharacters are marked, or the numbers can be marked on the characterkeys in the sixth embodiment. In summary, the character types marked onthe character keys are set generally according to the applications ofthe touch press key input device.

In addition, the arrangement manners of kana characters and Englishalphabets on the character keys can use the kana arrangement and Dvorakarrangement in the general keyboard for reference.

The Other Embodiments of the Invention

The touch press key input device of the invention is characterized inthat: total 12 character keys 21-32 in 4 right and left rows and 3 upand down columns are contained, and at least 2 types of 3 kind ofcharacter types of numbers, English alphabets and symbols are marked oneach press key; the input judging means 72 is employed, which can detectthe touch actions of the character keys and judge the moving directionsof the draw-line touch actions above a specific length in the regions ofthe character keys; and the character selecting and outputting means 73is also employed, which can select and output the characters displayedin the moving directions (relative to the center positions of thecharacter keys) responding to the moving directions judged by the inputjudging means.

The touch press key input device of the invention can be said to becharacterized in that: total 12 character keys 21-32 in 4 right and leftrows and 3 up and down columns are contained, and at least 2 types of 3kind of character types of numbers, English alphabets and symbols aremarked on each press key; the input judging means 72 is employed, whichcan detect the touch actions on the character keys and judge the movingdirections of the draw-line touch actions above a specific length in theregions of the character keys; and the character selecting andoutputting means 73 is also employed, which can select and output thecharacters displayed in the moving directions (relative to the centerpositions of the character keys) responding to the moving directionsjudged by the input judging means. At the same time, the characters,which are set on the character keys in advance but are not marked on thesurfaces of the character keys, can be selected and output by use of thedraw-line touch input method.

5 vowel alphabets ┌A┘, ┌I┘, ┌U┘, ┌E┘ and ┌O┘ are set on 5 character keys21-25 of the 12 press keys individually, and the other 21 consonantalphabets are set on the other 7 character keys 26-32 with 3 alphabetson each key. Thus, the characters at positions (directions) on thecharacter keys 21-32 can be selected and output by the characterselecting and outputting means. That is, 3 English alphabets can beselected and output by draw-line touching 3 directions 106-108 of thecharacter keys 26-32; 5 vowel alphabets ┌A┘, ┌I┘, ┌U┘, ┌E┘ and ┌O┘ canbe selected and output by draw-line touching directions 106 of thecharacter keys 21-25; the characters set in the corresponding directionsin advance can be selected and output by draw-line touching the seconddirections 107 and the third directions 108 of the character keys 21-25.

This arrangement is actually a manner of one vowel on one press key and3 consonants on one press key, and in order to distinguish differentEnglish alphabets, 3 draw-line touch directions (the left-downdirections 106, the down directions 107, and the right-down directions108) are set. If 5 vowel alphabets can be selected and output bydraw-line touching the first directions 106 of the character keys 21-25,by draw-line touching the second directions and the third directions thecharacters set in these directions in advance can be selected andoutput. It can be seen that besides 5 vowels marked on the surfaces ofthe press keys, other 10 characters can be input by use of the samedraw-line touch input method, and the input efficiency is high.

When the draw-line touch input is performed, the characters, which areset on the character keys in advance but are not marked on the surfacesof the character keys, can be selected and output by the characterselecting and outputting means responding to the language input modes.

For example, in Japanese input mode, if the urgent sounds, the nosesounds, the compound vowels, the awkward sounds and so on can be set inadvance, the input efficiency can be improved. In English input mode, ifthe words (such as ┌an┘, ┌is┘, ┌on┘ and so on) appeared frequently areset in advance, or the characters input by use of the draw-line touchinput method can be set in advance at the positions not marked withcharacters, the input efficiency of English can be improved.

For French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese andother languages other than English, the preset characters can be setlikewise according to their own characteristics so as to improve theinput efficiency. By use of the touch press key input device of theinvention, the characters can be set at the positions not marked withcharacters by the user.

Thus, the characters used frequently can be set in accordance with therequirements of the users, so that the touch press key input device aremade to be suitable for various users, and it has specificcharacteristics after being set by the users themselves, and the inputefficiency is higher.

At least 2 English alphabets are marked on every character key, and whenthe input judging means judges that there are English alphabetsdisplayed in the draw-line touch input directions, the characterselecting and outputting means can select and output such Englishalphabets.

Since at least 2 English alphabets are set on one character key, Englishalphabets need 13 character keys at most. Therefore, comparing with thecommon keyboard, the number of the character keys is reduced greatly,and they can be widely used for a portable telephone set, PAD and othersmall machines.

Numbers or kana characters and so on are often marked on the characterkeys, and if the input judging means judges that numbers are displayedin the moving directions, the character selecting and outputting meanscan select and output numbers. If English alphabets or kana charactersare displayed, the character selecting and outputting means can selectand output English alphabets or kana characters.

If numbers, English alphabets and kana characters are set on thecharacter keys at the same time, numbers, English alphabets and kanacharacters can be input at the same time. Such press key arrangementdevice is mounted to a portable telephone set, so as be capable ofinputting telephone numbers and facilitate to write email.

INDUSTRIAL AVAILABILITY

The touch press key inputting device of the invention inputs charactersmarked on press keys in a manner of directly touching the press keys byuse of a pen, a finger tip and so on, and can be widely used for aportable telephone set, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smallpersonal computer, which need the press input.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A mobile electronic device comprising: atouch-sensitive screen configured to display an output region and a softkeypad region comprising a plurality of keys that have interpretablemoving directions associated therewith, a first key of said plurality ofkeys displaying a first character that comprises at least one of analphabetic, numeric, and symbol character; an input judge thatdetermines when said first key has been activated with a first-type ofkey touch and when said first key has been activated with a second typeof key touch; and an output selector that responsive to each activationof said first input key with said first type of key touch, outputs saidfirst character to said output region and responsive to each activationof said first input key with said second type of key touch, outputs afirst multi-character sequence to said output region, wherein saidsecond type of key touch is a draw-line type of key touch having arespective direction, the output selector determining themulti-character sequence based only on said draw-line having a startingpoint on said first input key and the respective direction of thedraw-line type of key touch.
 2. The mobile electronic device as featuredin claim 1, wherein said first character is an alphabetic character andsaid multi-character sequence begins with said alphabetic character. 3.The mobile electronic device as featured in claim 1, wherein said firsttype of key touch is one of a striking type of key touch and a draw-linetype of key touch.
 4. The mobile electronic device as featured in claim1, wherein said respective direction of said draw-line type of key touchis determined only by a start point and an end point of the draw-linekey touch.
 5. The mobile electronic device as featured in claim 1,wherein said respective direction is one of up, down, left, right,left-up, right-up, left-down and right-down.
 6. The mobile electronicdevice as featured in claim 1, wherein said output selector outputs asecond multi-character sequence responsive to each activation of saidfirst key with a third type of key touch, wherein said third type of keytouch is a draw-line type of key touch having a respective directionthat is different from the respective direction of said second type ofkey touch.
 7. The mobile electronic device as featured in claim 1,wherein said mobile electronic device is one of a mobile telephone, apersonal digital assistant and a mobile computer.
 8. The mobileelectronic device as featured in claim 1, wherein said firstmulti-character sequence is a word commonly used in a given language. 9.The mobile electronic device as featured in claim 1, wherein said firstmulti-character sequence is a word commonly used by the user.
 10. Amobile electronic device comprising: a display screen; a touch-sensitivekeypad having a plurality of keys that have interpretable movingdirections associated therewith, a first key of the plurality of keysdisplaying a first character that comprises at least one of analphabetic, numeric, and symbol character; an input judge thatdetermines when said first key has been activated with a first type ofkey touch and when said first key has been activated with a second typeof key touch; and an output selector that responsive to each activationof said first key with said first type of key touch, outputs said firstcharacter to said display screen and responsive to each activation ofsaid first key with said second-type of key touch, outputs a firstmulti-character sequence to said display screen, wherein said secondtype of key touch is a draw-line type of key touch having a respectivedirection, the output selector determining the multi-character sequencebased only on the draw-line having a starting point on said first inputkey and the respective direction of the draw-line type of key touch. 11.The mobile electronic device as featured in claim 10, wherein said firstcharacter is an alphabetic character and said first multi-charactersequence begins with said first character.
 12. The mobile electronicdevice as featured in claim 10, wherein said respective direction is oneof up, down, left, right, left-up, right-up, left-down and right-down.13. The mobile electronic device as featured in claim 10, wherein saidoutput selector outputs a second multi-character sequence responsive toeach activation of said first key with a third type of key touch,wherein said third type of key touch is a draw-line type of key touchhaving a respective direction that is different from the respectivedirection of said second type of key touch.
 14. The mobile electronicdevice as featured in claim 10, wherein said first multi-charactersequence is one of a word commonly used in a given language and a wordcommonly used by the user.
 15. The mobile electronic device as featuredin claim 10, wherein a direction associated with a draw-line type of keytouch is determined only by a start point and an end point of thedraw-line key touch.